John Dramani Mahama, flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to take steps to address network challenges and congestion in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
Mahama made the call after visiting the EC headquarters to assess the registration process.
“This is day 4 of the exercise, and we have been receiving reports from the various district offices,” he said. “Today, I decided to go around and see for myself. I understand there are five districts here, and there’s a lot of congestion.
“People are coming from all over to register at one point. The second thing I have noticed, and the complaint, is that the network is not strong. And so they are not able to use the instant online registration. And so they are capturing some data offline. The danger is that sometimes there’s a repeat of somebody’s name, not of his/hers.”
Mahama urged the EC to speak with telecom companies to resolve the network bottleneck and allow for faster registration. He also called on the EC to consider opening up the registration exercise to more centers to reduce congestion.
“I have spoken to many of the young people who have turned 18 years, and they don’t have Ghana cards,” he said. “It means that if we had insisted on the Ghana Card as the only means of registration, it means all these young people I have seen would not have been able to register.”
Mahama’s call comes amid concerns from stakeholders about the smooth and efficient conduct of the limited voter registration exercise.
The EC has been criticized for its handling of the exercise, with some accusing the body of failing to adequately prepare for the high demand for registration.
