The Electoral Commission (EC) said yesterday, it has exceeded its registration target of 15 million Ghanaians onto the new voters register for the 2020 general elections.
Speaking at the seventh edition of the EC’s weekly ‘Let the Citizen Know’ encounter with the press in Accra yesterday, a Deputy Chairperson at the Commission in charge of Corporate Affairs, Dr Bossman Eric Asare, stated that, as of July 30, a total of 15,117,436 applicants had been registered.
He indicated that four out of the 16 regions, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern and Central have accounted for more than 50 per cent of the total registered applicants as of July 30.
According to Dr Bossman Asare, the current provisional figures indicated that out of the 15,117,436 registered applicants in the 16 regions, the Greater Accra Region has registered 3,225,508, with Ashanti Region having registered 2,700,805.
The Eastern Region has recorded 1,444,274 of the total registered voters, while Central Region has registered 1,404,018 people.
In the Western, Northern, and Volta regions, a total of 974,293, 922,395, and 852,277 voters have been rolled onto the new register in the respective regions.
Also, 590,185 applicants have been registered in the Bono Region, 569,563 in the North East Region, and 520,208 in the Bono East Regions respectively.
In the Western North Region, the Commission has registered 406,062 prospective voters, 404,711 in the Upper East and 316,458 in the Oti Region.
Additionally, the Commission has enrolled 282,308 applicants in the Ahafo Region onto the new voters register, and put 253,339 applicants onto the roll in the North East Region.
The remaining 251,043 registered applicants were enrolled onto the new electoral roll in the Savannah region as of July 30, 2020.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa indicated that the EC would ensure that the compilation of the new voters register was “credible and clean” by deleting the names of all foreigners who participated in the registration process.
“Our desire is to have a credible and clean register and as Commission we’ll make sure that, we have all the avenues and mechanisms in place to ensure that, we have a clean and credible register,” she said.
“A register that reflects Ghanaians only, a register that reflects persons who are eligible only, and so, we would ensure that no one who is not qualified has his or her name on the register,” she added.
Speaking at the same programme, Mrs Mensa said that the Commission was committed to the course, adding that those who must determine who leads the country must be Ghanaians.
“I believe that if we go to our neighbouring countries, we would not have the opportunity to register there and be on their roll; those who must determine who leads this country must be Ghanaians,” she stated.
The Electoral Commissioner has also urged all stakeholders and citizens of the country to assist in alerting the Commission so as to expunge their names from the electoral roll.
“The onus is on us to be vigilant and we are asking Ghanaians, when you go to the registration centres in the next few days and you see people who are not citizens, draw our attention to it so that we can take the necessary action,” she said.
The Commission has also mentioned that despite today August 4 being Founders’ Day, a public holiday, it would continue with the registration exercise which would end on Thursday, August 6.
BY FRANCIS NTOW