The ongoing Electoral Commission Voter Registration Exercise in many parts of the Northern Region has been slow since the beginning of the exercise last Tuesday (September 12, 2023) due to faulty registration machines deployed coupled with internet connection failures.
The Tamale Metro office of the EC recorded the lowest number of four prospective applicants who formed queues amidst a heavy downpour to acquire their voter’s ID cards on day one of the exercise. There were however some improvements on Wednesday and Thursday when THE CUSTODIAN continued it’s monitoring of the exercise in the Tamale and Sagnarigu municipal registration centers.
Notwithstanding the improvement, applicants who traveled from far and near were still left frustrated by the slow pace of the process which were largely attributed to the breakdown of the registration devices and poor internet connections.
The EC Director for Tamale Metro, Mr. Bismark Nteh confirmed the breakdown of the registration machines to THE CUSTODIAN Northern Regional Reporter in an earlier interview.
“So far we’re using one kit, the other one is not working; so we’re trying to do a replacement and we’re going to the Regional Office to get one to replace but as at now one is working all right” he said.
Mr. Nteh added, “The process is moving on smoothly just that it is slow because it is one kit” stressing if it were to be two, it would’ve moved faster than the present situation and further expressed confidence that the process will speed up when an additional machine is provided.
He disclosed that the applicants were being registered through the offline process due to the network challenges they are encountering in the area and also partly blamed the camera for the slow pace of the registration setbacks.
The prospective applicants who were largely teenagers turning 18 years and their families continued to agitate for the delay and said this was affecting their planned daily socioeconomic activities.
The New Patriotic Party Tamale Central Constituency Secretary, Mr. Ahmed Faisal Yajara, in a separate interview corroborated the issues enumerated by the EC Director but stated the political party agents were also collaborated to ensure the people get registered without any hindrance.
“There is total cohesion among us and as we speak, everything is cool but we’re expecting more machines to facilitate the smooth movement of the exercise” he emphasized.
But the Tamale South Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Abdul Rauf Sumani (Zaanyaya) for his part alleged the EC was deliberately frustrating the exercise in their strongholds and indicated the party will not sit unconcerned to allow the elections management body to disenfranchise eligible voters in the 2024 general elections.
