News:
April 5, 2012
Ghanaians have been urged not to be daunted by the frustrations they are going through as well as intimidations in certain parts of the country in the on-going biometric registration exercises but rather be resolute and go out in their numbers to register.
Justice Joe Appiah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma North, made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on his observations and impressions on the exercise.
He said that was the only opportunity for the electorate to vote out the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government from power.
Justice Appiah who is seeking a second term in office as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for the area alleged that some potential voters in some polling stations in the constituency could not get the chance to register for three days due to faulty equipment, especially cameras and described the situation as most unfortunate.
He mentioned those areas as Resurrection Power, Awoshie, Bethel Pentecost Church at West Darkuman, Great Gardens at Kwashieman and Nyamekye Pentecost.
Justice Appiah wondered why the Electoral Commission (EC) would go out to procure such inferior type of machines with all the huge funding provided it and said Ghanaians deserved better than that.
He was of the view that from the way things were going, the EC would have no alternative but to extend the period of registration if at the end of the 40-day period it emerged that through its own technical problems some people were denied the chance of registering.
The MP expressed worry about the apparent lack of security at most registration centres, thus allowing some criminals to take the law into their own hands by intimidating and preventing people from exercising their democratic rights.
GNA