Today's newspaper review begins with news in a number of papers about the biometric voters registration exercise. The Daily Guide reports that the Ashanti regional office of the Electoral Commission (EC) has declared its readiness for the biometric registration exercise which begins nationwide on Saturday. Samuel Tetteh, Regional Chairman of the EC told Daily Guide his outfit was set for the important electoral exercise.
In a related story, Jomoro EC takes delivery of materials for the biometric registration exercise on Saturday, March 24. As reported by the Daily Dispatch, the District Electoral Officer, Mr Kwabena Asante, who made this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Half Assini, said series of programmes in preparation for the exercise had almost been completed.
More news on the biometric registration exercise from the Daily Guide as EC cautions voters. And says eligible voters, who harbor the intention of registering more than once during `the biometric registration exercise, should rethink as they would be exposed by the Electoral Commission (EC). Names of such unscrupulous persons, according the EC officials, would be printed and labeled as exceptional in a wanted list on voting day for arrest and prosecution.
Once again in the Daily Guide, the Asunafo North Municipal Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), Christian Boafo Offeh, has warned political parties to stop transporting voters from one electoral area to another to register, saying the practice violates the electoral laws of Ghana. Under the headline "Stop Transporting Voters", the paper reports that Mr. Offeh was speaking at the first quarterly meeting of the Asunafo North Constituency Inter-Party Dialogue Committee at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo region.
Biometric registration gets legal backing. According to the Chronicle newspaper, the Public Elections (Registration of Voters. 2012) (C.I.72), that gives the legal backing to the Electoral Commission to carry out the Biometric Voter Registration(BVR), matures in Parliament today, after satisfying the 21 parliamentary sitting days. Consequently, EC has fixed Saturday to carry out the nationwide BVR intended to compile a credible voter register for the December general election. The exercise spans 40 days.
Media Practitioners have been called upon to help in reaching out to potential voters by educating and informing them about the impending biometric registration exercise. Alhaji Sule Amadu , Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Electoral Commission(EC),who made the call said the success of the biometric registration exercise would rely heavily on the media. The Ghanaian Times covers this in the headline "The success of the biometric registration exercise will depend on the media-says EC official"
Moving on from the biometric voter registration exercise, the Chronicle reports of Political Parties being urged to operate within the law. Political parties contesting 2012 general elections, especially the NPP and NDC, have been entreated to uphold the tenets of democracy and operate within the Political Parties' Code of Conduct as well as the 1992 Constitution. The Asunafo North Municipal Director of NCCE, Mr Philip Kombat who made the call at the first quarterly meeting of the Asunafo North Constituency Inter- Party Dialogue Committee at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo region noted that though Articles 55(3) of the 1992 constitution gives political parties the freedom to participate in shaping the political will of the people, to disseminate information on political ideologies, social and economic programmes of national character, they should do that devoid of insults.
On political campaign scene, Kwadaso NPP targets 100,000. As part of efforts to ensure a resounding victory for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December polls, the Kwadaso constituency branch of the party has declared its intention to register at least 100,000 voters in the upcoming biometric registration exercise.
NPP Bares Teeth At Odododiodoo. Members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Odododiodoo Constituency in Accra say they can no longer sit unconcerned for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to visit brutality on them. They appear to have lost confidence in the local police command (Jamestown Police Station), report by the Daily Guide.
We draw the curtains on today's edition of newspaper review with a story in the Ghanaian Times that reads "we must pray for peaceful polls". A renowned international evangelist, Rev. Dr. Lawrence Tetteh, has urged Ghanaians to seek the face of God for successful elections in December. He said though he was optimistic that God would give Ghanaians a leader, come January 2013, it was important that as citizens'' we seek the face of the Lord because a nation without Christ is either in crisis or bound to be in crisis.''
This daily news review is compiled by African Elections Project (AEP) Media Monitoring Centre, Accra, Ghana.
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