Poor Response to Extended Period of Re-Registration Exercise

The first day of the extended re-registration of those whose names were deleted from the voters register because they had registered with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards recorded a very low turnout.
The re-registration exercise, which was supposed to have ended on July 28, 2016, had to be extended following calls, petitions and concerns raised by some of the affected individuals, various groups and political parties for the EC to extend the deadline to enable more people to re-register.
The names of 56,772 people who used NHIS cards as a form of identity were deleted from the electoral roll by the EC in compliance with a Supreme Court order on July 5, 2016.
But, by Wednesday, July 27, 2016, the EC had re-registered only 22,107 of them, meaning that more than 34,665 had not re-registered.
However, turnout for re-registration when the extended period began yesterday was slow, as few people called at the various district offices of the EC to be re-registered.
Low turnout
At the EC Headquarters in Accra where the Ayawaso and the Osu Klottey District offices of the EC are located, officials were re-registering the few people who turned up for the exercise at the time the Daily Graphic team called at the offices.
According to the Ayawaso District EC Officer, Mr Nantogmah Abdul-Rashid, only 36 people had turned up to re-register at the time of the visit. Meanwhile, the office expected 2,000 people to be registered within the eight-day extension period.
He was confident that his officers would be able to re-register all if they came, saying the office had in place three registration machines to ensure that the expected numbers were re-registered.
The Head of Communications and Public Relations at the EC, Mr Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, said low turnout had always been the case in such exercises, especially at the initial stages.
He urged all those who were yet to be re-registered to take advantage of the extension and move to the district offices of the EC to be registered.
Easy registration
He explained that the EC was using only the district offices because the exercise was being done online straight to the national database.
He said the process for replacement was simple, as such voters were required to go to any GCB Bank and pay GHC5, and with the receipt they were to visit the district offices for the re-registration.
Mr Dzakpasu said currently the EC was providing an opportunity for those who had lost their registration cards and those whose names were deleted from the voters register.
Throwing more light on the exercise, he said those whose names were deleted would be required to provide a driving licence, a passport, a national identification card or, in the absence of any of those cards, visit the district office with two registered voters as guarantors.
Kumasi
From Kumasi, Daniel Kenu reports that the re-registration of deleted NHIS registrants was slow at the 32 district offices of the EC in the Ashanti Region.
Daily Graphic checks showed that only eight people each in the Atwima Mponua and Subin districts had registered, while the Suame District had registered just one person.
Despite the extension of the exercise to August 12, affected potential voters either appeared unconcerned or are unaware.
But the Ashanti Regional Director of the EC, Mr Serebour Quaicoe, told the Daily Graphic that the exercise would pick up gradually, as had always been the case.
Ho
The extended period of the re-registration of NHIS card holders by the EC started at a very slow pace in Ho, reports Mary Anane.
Checks at some of the district offices of the EC showed that persons who had their names deleted from the voters register were not trooping to the district offices to re-register.as expected.
The Ho West District Electoral Officer, Ms Regina Tackie, told the Daily Graphic that 462 people were expected to re-register but as of 4 p.m. yesterday only six persons had done so.
The exercise, she said, was moving very slowly, explaining that during the first phase of the exercise, 544 out of 1,016 NHIS card holders re-registered.
In the Ketu North District, the Electoral Officer, Mr Philip Adzomadi, said 17 out of the 69 affected people had re-registered as of the time of the visit by the Daily Graphic.
He expressed the hope that persons who desired to have voters identity cards (ID) would re-register by August 12.
Tamale
From Tamale, Samuel Duodu reports that the Tamale Metropolitan Electoral Officer, Mr Nantogmah Issah Andani, expressed the hope that all the 138 NHIS registrants whose names were deleted from the voters register would take advantage of the window of opportunity offered by the EC to re-register before the end of the extension date.
He said 77 out of the 138 NHIS registrants re-registered during the re-registration exercise which ended on Thursday, July 27, 2016.
He told the Daily Graphic yesterday that seven of the NHIS registrants had registered at the time of the visit by the Daily Graphic.
Cape Coast
Voters who registered with NHIS cards in Cape Coast are taking advantage of the extension of the re-registration exercise to re-register, writes Shirley Asiedu-Addo.
When the Daily Graphic went to the Cape Coast Metropolitan Office of the EC, a few people were there to re-register.
The Metropolitan Electoral Officer, Mr Richard Asenso, said 19 of the voters had re-registered on the first day of the extension period.
A total of 1,046 voters had registered with NHIS cards but only 386 re-registered during the initial re-registration exercise.