Mr Osman Ali, the Upper West Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), says the low turnout in the ongoing exhibition of the 2020 provisional voters register in the region is normal though not the best.
“Usually, people are eager to register for the voters’ card in their numbers, but when you ask them to come and check to ensure their names are in the register, they do not usually come in their numbers again”, he said.
Mr Ali, who said this in a telephone interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa, noted that the EC’s role was to inform the public about the exercise in the mass media to enable them to check their details.
He said the EC had done its part and it was now the turn of the public to come out to check their names, stressing that if the people failed to turn out that could not be the fault of the EC.
On the omission of names from the register, Mr Ali noted that areas where they had shortages of registered persons, they had duly reported that to the head office of the Commission in Accra to get them resolved.
Meanwhile, GNA visited eight of the exhibition centres in Wa Central Constituency and observed that exhibition officials at the polling stations were virtually on holiday as there were no persons around to check their details.
The officials told the GNA that turnout for the exhibition was generally low, especially at the Catholic JHS 1 & 2 exhibition centres.
The officials said they would not be able to get half of the registered voters to check their names before the end of the exercise.
The exhibition of the 2020 provisional voters register started on September 18, 2020, and is expected to end on September 25, 2020.
The exercise is to among other things allow voters to verify their details of registration to make sure that their names, photographs and other particulars are adequately captured in the register.
GNA
