The Ghana Federation of Persons with Disability Organisations (GFD) in the Upper West Region has expressed fear of being disenfranchised in the upcoming limited voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission.
The EC had scheduled Tuesday, May 7, to commence the exercise, which will end on Monday, May 27, 2024, ahead of the December 7 general election.
The exercise is targeted at eligible voters who had turned 18 years since the last registration, to be enrolled onto the national voters’ register.
The national electoral body had indicated that the exercise would be conducted at its district offices across the country and in hard-to-reach electoral areas.
However, Mr Ibrahim Saani, the immediate past Upper West Regional President of the GFD, observed that limiting the exercise to the EC offices would disadvantage many PWDs in the country, especially the Upper West Region.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa on Monday, he explained that some PWDs would not be able to afford the transportation cost from their locations to the EC offices to register.
Mr Saani said previously the exercise was conducted at the various polling stations where PWDs could easily access to register and that he did not understand why the EC had changed the practice.
He indicated that some PWDs could not afford even GHȻ5.00 to board a “Candoo” (tricycle) to the EC office to register.
“A person who cannot walk and is staying far from the EC office has to use a wheelchair to go there, which will be difficult for him or her,” Mr Saani said.
For some of them, getting GHȻ5.00 to buy porridge is difficult and you expect that person to use that money to board candoo to go and register. He or she won’t do it…”
He Mr Saani, therefore, appealed to the EC to reconsider its decision and extend the registration centres to the polling stations if it wanted all eligible Ghanaians, including the PWDs, to register and vote in the election.
Meanwhile, Mr Freeman Kanton, the Executive Director of the Centre for Advancing Rural Opportunity, said the organisation was concerned about mobilising the minority groups – women and persons with disability – to participate in the limited voter registration process.
He said that would guarantee them the right to contribute to the democratic process of the country by voting to decide who leads them.
He appealed to the PWDs and other marginalised groups that would be affected by the EC’s decision to endeavour to register to participate in the exercise despite the challenges.
