Former Deputy National Youth Organizer and Ketu North parliamentary candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Eric Edem Agbana, has called out the Electoral Commission (EC) over delays recorded in the ongoing voter registration exercise in Ketu North.
The Electoral Commission on Tuesday, May 7, began a nationwide exercise to register eligible citizens in preparation for the next presidential and parliamentary elections on December 7. Day one of the exercise was marred by challenges which the commission acknowledged in a press statement yesterday.
Many areas experienced some challenges with the exercise including the Ketu North Constituency.
According to Edem Agbana, no one was registered at the EC’s office in Dzodze as of 3 pm on Tuesday. This was due to challenges faced by the Commission, per officials at the centre.
“It is 3 pm and not a single person has been able to register at the Electoral Commission office in Dzodze,” Hon. Agbana posted on social media.
In another post, the NDC PC berated the Commission for coming out with “dismissive statements” regarding the nationwide challenges.
He said the EC should have called out those responsible for the glitches to provide detailed explanations to Ghanaians. An explanation of what caused such challenges to hinder their ability to register citizens on Tuesday would have been logical per Edem Agbana. The politician also noted that the EC has made lack of accountability and transparency their status quo.
“In more functional systems and institutions, the Electoral Commission would have provided a thorough explanation of what went wrong today, identified the responsible officials, and offered concrete assurances for the remaining days.
“However, instead of taking responsibility, the EC continues to release dismissive statements, simply stating that they faced challenges,” the politician wrote.
“This lack of transparency and accountability has unfortunately become the status quo,” he added.
Meanwhile, the EC, in a press statement released on Tuesday, May 7, acknowledged the challenges and attributed them to internet connectivity and technical issues.
“The Commission wishes to bring to the attention of the General Public that, following our monitoring of the Voters Registration Exercise this morning, we observed some technical challenges with internet connectivity in a number of our Centers. This delayed the start of the registration at a number of the Registration Centers,” part of EC’s statement read.
