Stop creating unnecessary tension at Registration Centres – Electoral Officer

Mr Christian Boafo – Offeh, Dormaa Municipal Electoral Officer, has said said it was unnecessary to dispatch security officers to  the various registration centres in the on-going Limited Voter Registration exercise since no foul play was anticipated.

He stated that the police had to be allowed to attend to other important duties and needed to be called in only when unexpected infractions of the law occurred at any of the centres.

Mr Boafo-Offeh who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Brong-Ahafo Region said cases of challenge of the eligibility of certain voters ought not to have created any tensions at the centres, if there was a proper understanding of the right the right things to be done.

In case one’s eligibility is in question, the person raising the doubt, should go for a challenge form on the person for further adjudication later by the District Registration Review Committee which comprises the representative of all active and registered political parties in the District”, he added.

He stated that nobody had the right and privilege to deny any qualified person or persons, within the law, the opportunity to register.

The Municipal Electoral Officer noted that before anybody could challenge the eligibility of any person, he/she is supposed to find out if that person has dual citizenship, in order to avoid any baseless challenge.

His comment comes in the wake of reported attacks and manhandling of some political party agents in quite a number of registration centres, across the country.

“The political parties know this but they deliberately often pretend and appear ignorant of this law”, he stated.

Source: GNA