NDC EXPRESSES CONCERN (PAGE 16)

THE National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the general public and its supporters to be vigilant and take a keen interest in the voters registration exercise to avoid any ‘kangaroo’ tactics that will undermine the process.
The NDC explained that its supporters especially ought to note that a successful registration exercise was the foundation to the party’s victory at the December polls.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra last Wednesday, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, the National Organiser of the party, expressed doubts on whether the exercise would be as smooth and fair as expected, since some of the concerns raised by the NDC, as well as some members of the public, remained unresolved.
He questioned why the Electoral Commission (EC) procured only 2,500 workstations for 5,000 electoral areas when it had announced to the whole world that the government had provided all the funds and logistics that it needed for the 2008 elections.
He said for the exercise to be effective and efficient, 5,000 workstations should have been provided at the 5,000 electoral areas for the 11-day exercise.
He said one workstation for two electoral areas would reduce speed and efficiency and possibly disenfranchise a large number of potential voters, a development which could lead to confusion at the registration centres.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said that was because while the exercise was going on in one electoral area, potential voters in other electoral area could not take advantage of the process at the same time.
The National Organiser of the NDC said because of past experiences with the registration exercise, the NDC had instructed its agents to take full statistics of events at all the registration centres.
He said in that regard it had, at a recent Inter-Party Advisory Committee meeting, formally requested the EC to furnish the parties with track sheets detailing the distribution of registration forms.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said the NDC was serving notice that anything that would undermine the integrity of the exercise would not be countenanced.
He said the NDC was also worried about the simultaneous implementation of the national ID process and the voters registration exercise in the Western Region, since it had a potential to confuse voters.
He said that was because some voters might think that once they had obtained the national ID cards, there would be no need to register as voters.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo, therefore, called on the national ID authority to suspend its programme to allow for a confusion-free registration exercise, since the national ID exercise was not time bound and could resume after the limited registration exercise.