The Electoral Commission has provided clarification regarding voter registration for eligible individuals unable to register at its district offices across the country. Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, who serves as the Director of Electoral Services for the Commission, conveyed this information during an interview on Asempa FM's Ekosiisen program on Monday, September 19.

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He stated that those unable to register will need to wait until next year to do so.Dr. Quaicoe explained, "For those in hard-to-reach areas, we are only appealing to them to find a way to get to the district offices for the registration. Otherwise, they would have to wait for next year. But even next year, we can't be everywhere. It will depend on situations on the ground in terms of figures.

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Because we won't say that, because we have to serve hard-to-reach areas, we will send our tools to just three people in a particular area."So, we will work with the stakeholders to be sure that if a place is indeed hard-to-reach, and that we have people there before we move. That will be a form of mopping because we are still going to maintain the district office registration and there will be continuous registration," he noted.Dr.

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Godfred Seidu Jasaw, the Member of Parliament representing Wa East, has called upon the Electoral Commission (EC) to establish a new registration center in the Wa East District due to accessibility issues in the current district capital, Funsi. He stressed that a significant number of eligible voters face difficulties reaching Funsi for registration and emphasized the urgency of addressing this situation.

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In spite of legal challenges from opposition parties concerning the EC's decision not to conduct registration in electoral areas this year, the Commission is proceeding with the exercise. Mrs. Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the EC, has attributed the challenges in decentralizing the registration process in part to Parliament's failure to pass the proposed Constitutional Instrument C.I. required for approval.Mrs.

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Mensa explained, "As you are all aware, the Commission prepared a draft C.I for continuous registration in all district offices nationwide. This initiative started last year and the registration we were envisioning under the draft C.I was on a sustained long-term basis.""Indeed, had the C. I been passed we would have had some six months this year to register voters at any time of their choice.

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Our 2023 budget and work plan were prepared along those lines. Our 2023 work plan and budget were based on a continuous registration of voters in our district offices nationwide, we did not factor electoral area registration in our 2023 work plan and budget," she explained.The EC also declared that it has doubled the quantity of registration stations in Tamale and would do the same in other regions as needed.

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The Commission is actively addressing any issues that may arise during the registration process in order to ensure that eligible voters are not denied the right to vote as a result of this enlargement.

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