Polling centres record low turn out as voters’ register exhibition ends
The Voters’ register exhibition ended on Thursday with many centres recording low turnouts in Accra and its environs.
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The exercise, which came to a close without violence, however, experienced a few anomalies and some challenges.
The Daily Graphic visited some of the exhibition centres on Thursday before the exercise officially came to an end in Adabraka, Kaneshie and Accra Central District.
Dead relatives
Exhibition officers told the Daily Graphic that though people had come to inform them of their dead relatives, none was able to produce any form of certification to prove this.
“When you ask them to go for the appropriate documentation, they go and don’t come back,” the exhibition officer at NCR, Mr Collins Kwaku, said.
The exhibition officer at the Additrom Preparatory School also said people came to inform them about their dead relatives but then again, none brought along a death certificate.
At the Kaneshie Cluster of Schools exhibition centre, the exhibition officer, Mr Patrick Lade, said only one person was reported dead by relatives.
He said the procedure was to fill a form together with a death certificate and authentic manuscript to prove the death of a relative.
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The Tudu exhibition centre recorded nine death cases, but only one death certificate for verification.
Multiple registration
The incidence of double registration involves people who have registered at more than one centre. At the Tudu centre in Accra, the exhibition officer, Mr Abdul Wasid, said the centre recorded 16 cases of double and multiple registrations which, he said, was an offence. He added that these people would appear before a panel at the Electoral Commission to explain their actions.
Absence of exhibition officers
At the time the Daily Graphic visited Accra Police Quarters Two, the exhibition officers had vacated their seats as of 2:00 p.m. About 10 people trooped in to check their data, but did not meet the officers.
A trader who came to check her data said, “It is my third time visiting the centre during the day and I still did not meet the officers”. She added that business had not been good and that was why she left her items to check her data.
Low patronage
The exhibition officers at the NCR centre in Adabraka indicated that patronage had been low during the 10-day exercise, with only 113 out of 648 voters in the voters’ register showing up to check their data as of the end of the exercise on Thursday.
The situation was not any different at Additrom School exhibition centre at Adabraka, where out of 394 voters in the register, just about 100 had checked their data at the time the Daily Graphic visited the centre, with the reason that the people were not keen on voting because they had seen that the economic situations had still not improved.
At the Central Business District centre in Accra, turnout was very low since most traders had low interest in the exercise. Speaking to some traders, they said they were much focused on their business since the economy was not stable. “We have to make ends meet for our families,” they concluded.
The Police Quarters (one) at the Accra Police barracks recorded 130 verified registrants out of a total of 600 voters.
However, the Tudu Central Mosque exhibition centre recorded the lowest number of verified registrants, having 98 people out of a total of 767 showing up to verify their registration as of 3:00 p.m.
The exhibition officers advised that the Electoral Commission intensify its publicity to increase public awareness of the process as well as public interest and participation.
At the Kaneshie exhibition centre, only 203 out of 1,776 voters in the register had checked their data.
One officer stated that 15 to 20 voters checked their data in a day since the beginning of the exercise.
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Lack of education
The exhibition officer at the Ghana Supply Commission, Mr Bernard Darko, said the exercise had not been productive.
He attributed this to low publicity on the side of the media and the Electoral Commission. .
“This was due to lack of education on the side of the public, some people register at two different places since they don’t know their polling stations”.
However, they added that the media, political parties and community leaders should also support the public exercise by helping to raise citizens’ interest.
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Lack of furniture
Most of the centres visited had no shed or shelter for the officers, so most of them had to source for chairs and tables from the area for the exercise.
Some supervisors also refused to visit the centres as they were obliged to.