The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Ishmael Ashitey has warned the youth to desist from engaging in any chaotic act to ensure peaceful registration process.
He said the Electoral Commission (EC) would extend the registration time if various polling stations could not meet the stipulated time to register all prospective voters.
Mr Ashitey gave the warning when he toured four registration centres yesterday in Accra to acquaint himself and his team with activities of EC towards addressing challenges they have encountered since the registration began.
The places he toured were Ablekuma Central, Okaikwei, Ashiedu Keteke and Ablekuma South.
The Minister indicated that the exercise should be carried out with all diligence without any issue of protocol, adding that, “No one is charging anyone for the registration, people should not change the concept of the registration process.”
Mr Ashitey noted that some prospective electorate were obstructing the processes, saying, “From complaints people were engaging others through the ‘backdoor’ by reserving chairs for them at the expense of those who were in the queue,” hence condemned the act.
To prevent people from choking registration centres during the last day, Mr Ashitey urged electoral officers in centres receiving small turnout to collaborate with their Members of Parliament and other politicians to increase awareness creation for the electorate to turn out.
In order to speed up the process without any complaint, Kwame Amoah, the Greater Accra Regional Director of EC, assured his outfit would distribute additional electoral machines today.
He said some registration centres received massive turnouts which slowed the processes but would beef up to ensure everyone got registered within the stipulated date.
Mr Amoah underscored the need for the citizenry to work closely with the EC and called for support of stakeholders in improving the electoral process.
During the visit, Ghanaian Times observed the public were attending in their numbers to make the activity successful, some prospective electorate got to centres during the evening to sleep over and at dawn to get registered.
Eric Okyere, the District Electoral Officer for Ashiedu Keteke, outlined some challenges and said some prospective voters do not have birth certificates, National Identification and National Health Insurance cards and passport which slowed the process as they had to look for guarantors before registering.
The registration exercise started on June 17 and is expected to end on July 7.
BY JOYCELINE NATALLY CUDJOE