Ghana Votes

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Ghana Elections 2012 News Review - 5th April, 2012

Below are the top stories from the Dailies:

1.       Biometric voters' registration exercise updates

2.       GCPP on economic change

From the Daily Graphic, we are told that Four Million Register, Over 600 Cases of Multiple Registration. Four million one hundred thousand eligible voters registered during the first phase of the ongoing biometric voters registration exercise, the Electoral Commission has said. According to the EC, more than 600 instances of multiple registrations have so far been detected. The paper also reports about the EC's intention to introduce continuous voter registration. The Electoral Commission  is to introduce a continuous  voter  registration system  at  all its offices  for  people  who qualify to vote  in elections, including those  who  attain  the stipulated voting age  of  eighteen years. It goes on to say that the continuous  registration will  thus  bring  to  an end  the usually  long wait   by newly  qualified  voters for  the  EC's  periodic registration.

Loss of Biometric Laptop Will Not Affect 2012 Elections-EC. The Central  Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC) ,Mrs. Philomena Edusei, has stated that  the recent  loss of biometric laptop at Agona Swedru  in the Central Region  will not  affect  the  upcoming  2012 elections. In an exclusive  interview  with Daily Dispatch, Mrs. Edusei hinted that  the  laptop being  used by the EC in  the ongoing  biometric  registration is  specially  designed purposely for the EC and  the registration exercise  such that no individual can use it in any other business.

Reporting on hitches of the biometric exercise, The Chronicle states that Ashanti tops disruption league. It is official the  Ashanti  Region  bears  the biggest  brunt  of  disruptions  to the registration  exercise  raising  fears that the  recommendation of a group  of  academics  who authored a document  on how  the  National  Democratic  Congress (NDC) could  rig  the  December  elections , might  be in  practice. According to Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, the Ashanti Region has become the hotbed of registration disruptions.

Lastly, Daily Guide informs us that Assembly member for the Sakpare Electoral Area, Ayendago Francis Haddo, will appear in court on April 10 for allegedly slapping a registration official, Francis Aduk, at the Sakpare polling Station in the Binduri Constituency in Bawku. In the headline, Assembly Man slaps registration officer, the paper adds that Mr. Haddo was reported to have pounced on the registration official and slapped him, after a misunderstanding had ensued between his (Haddo's) wife and the EC officials at the Sakpare Polling Station.

As we round up with the day's review, a story from the Daily Guide indicates that GCPP will focus on economic change. The acting Chairman and Leader of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Dr.  Henry Herbert Lartey, has  disclosed that  the  strategy  of the Party is not  about  political power but rather  to focus on economic  change. He said  it was the belief  of the GCPP that Ghana was  capable  of  doing  a lot more  for its people , and that  the people  were equally  capable  of doing same  for the nation.

This daily news review is compiled by African Elections Project (AEP) Media Monitoring Centre, Accra, Ghana.

Follows us on twitter @Ghanaelections

 

No comments:

Post a Comment