The Electoral Commission (EC) has launched the maiden edition of their “Let the Citizen Know” initiative aimed at providing regular information on their core mandate to the citizenry.
This also includes providing up to date information on the ongoing mass voters registration exercise across the country.
Speaking at the launch yesterday, the Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Jean Mensa stated that “Let the Citizen Know” will build the trust and confidence the populace has in the EC by answering questions of the citizens and “give timely information on a regular basis to citizens”
“Let the Citizen Know” will give regular updates on the voters registration, number of registrants, the male and female ratio, the guarantor system and the forms of identification used in the voters registration exercise.
She mentioned that the initiative will also erase tensions and suspicion that characterise the work of the commission by “giving facts as they unfold on the field”.
Mrs Jean Mensa admonished journalists to present the facts and be objective in discharging their duties and support the EC in its activities.
Speaking to the challenges the EC faced in the first batch of the registration, Mrs Jean Mensa assured that security personnel have been tasked to make sure the social distancing protocols were observed at the various registration centres to avoid crowding.
To solving the same problem, there’s an initiative to serve the first 150 applicants at each centre in which half will be registered in the morning till afternoon and the other half from the afternoon till the evening.
Additional chairs have been hired and extra BVRs have been made available to serve as mobile kits for registration centers when the need arose.
Also present at the launch, the Deputy Chairman of Operations, Mr Samuel Tettey stated that the second batch of the voters registration had begun and pleaded with the citizens to play their role to ensure a more successful phase of the registration.
He mentioned that there has been an increase in the number of applicants registered in a day and attributed this to the “efficiency and effectiveness of both the officials and the speed with which the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) machines worked.
The registration started on June 30 and the first phase saw a total number of 2,215,816 applicants being registered with 59.3% of the number registering with the Ghana Card, 30.7% registering with their passports and 0.2% registering with guarantors.
BY FRANCIS NTOW & ELSIE COMMODORE
