The ongoing biometric voter registration which has so far been characterized by various incidents takes precedence on all the electoral news in our review today. First, the Daily Graphic reports that a Nigerian has been arrested for registration fraud and he became the first foreign casualty of the ongoing biometric voters registration exercise when he was arrested for attempting to assist three of his compatriots to register. Although the suspect, Banwo Abiodun Ashimiu, 34, had successfully registered in the Odododiodoo Constituency on Sunday, his attempt to aid his compatriots to register at the Apostolic Registration Centre in the Ablekuma South Constituency yesterday failed when agents of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) sounded the alarm bells.
We continue with a similar story from the Daily Guide which indicates that 6 Arrested for Electoral Offences. The paper says six macho men have been arrested by the Accra Regional Police Command for electoral offences at Taifa in Accra. The six namely Kingsley Awuni,50,Edward Anafo Lincoln,26,Prince Oduro Charles aka Soldier,25,Kwabena Boateng,35,Kofi Ofori,24 and Zakari Abdul hameed,35,told the police during interrogation that they were detailed by the NPP Dome Kwabenya Constituency Chairman to patrol the various registration centres to ensure the smooth running of the exercise.
The Daily Guide adds that fingerprints of labourers and factory workers, according to EC officers at some polling stations, could not to be taken by the biometric device, even after the labourers had severally washed their hands with soap in a their headline Machine Rejects Labourers .
The Biometric registration exercise which kicked stared across the nation on Saturday has been fraught with difficulties in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, due to faulty equipment. With the headline Faulty Equipment Disrupt Exercise, the Daily Graphic reports that the kits, particularly scanners and laptops used for taking fingerprints and imputing data, were not functioning at most of the registration centres.
The daily Guide also reports that intermittent breakdowns Delay Registration. In the northern region causing doubt about the EC's ability to meet the deadline. The intermittent breakdown of scanners, cameras and other equipment, according to polling station officials, was among many reasons accounting for the delay in the exercise.
Ghanaians are assured that Biometric numbers not by sequence. SUPERLOCK TECHNOLOGIES Limited, the Israeli company commissioned by the Electoral Commission (EC) to bring in the equipment for the biometric registration exercise, has assured Ghanaians that there is no fraud involved in the equipment 'failure to number the registering public in sequential order. In addition, The Chronicle says the machines have been programmed not to give sequential numbers in order to prevent miscreants hacking into it and making unauthorized entries, Mr. Guy Schmuel , Head of the Information Communication Technology(ICT) Division of the company, explained at a media briefing in Accra, yesterday.
Monitoring of the biometric registration exercise shows that there is Slow Registration at La. A slow information recording procedure coupled with poor participation from prospective voters at the La Dadekotopon constituency marred the biometric registration exercise which began last Saturday. Potential voters at various centres visited by Daily Guide complained about the long procedure they had to go through before being issued with their voter's ID card.
Still on the registration exercise, the Ghanaian Times reports that many registration centres continued to have long queues of potential voters eager to register in the ongoing biometric exercise which entered its third day yesterday. The times on Monday visited a number of centres and found long queues with people waiting patiently to go through the exercise to acquire new ID cards for the forthcoming general elections.
Ghanaians have been urged not to rush to go and register in a different electoral area. A report from the Ghanaian Times has Mr. Emmanuel Abeam Danso the Ho Municipal Director of the Electoral Commission of Ghana(EC) cautioning residents who leave their local electoral areas to go and register in other electoral areas that they were ceding their eligibility to vote their assembly members in district assembly elections. Mr. Danso was reacting to concerns raised on Saturday by Mr. Robert Saluma, National Democratic Congress (NDC) agent at the STC Terminus Bankoe registration centre, that people were moving from other electoral areas to register even before the registration team got to their electoral areas.
Ending the news on biometric registration is a story from the Daily Guide about the NDC, NPP trading Blows. Representatives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) nearly exchanged blows at the Great Tess Junior High School(JHS)biometric registration centre at Tepa in the Ahafo –Ano North Constituency of the Ashanti region on Saturday afternoon. This unpleasant spectacle, which disrupted the registration exercise for almost 30 minutes, occurred when a student who claimed to be 19 years went to the centre to register.
On security during the elections, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has pledged its support to ensure peace in the country before and after elections as it considers the biometric voters registration exercise as a civic responsibility and a constitutional obligation. At a recent dialogue in Accra organized by the Electoral Commission (EC) dubbed; "Enhancing the credibility of 2012 Elections; Dialoguing on Biometric Voter Registration with the Military", the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of GAF, Lieutenant General Peter Augustine Blay, assured the EC of the military's full participation in the registration exercise. The New Crusading Guide captures this with the headline Military Assures Peace.
In a related news, which brings us to the end of today's review, The Chronicle states that Minister warns machomen to stay away…..say EC has adequate security arrangement. The Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Kwaku Agyemang –Mensah given the assurance that adequate security arrangements had been put in place to ensure a successful biometric registration exercise in the Region. He said, in line with the President' s avowed quest for peace to prevail before, during and after the 2012 general elections, the Electoral Commission(EC) had ensured adequate security arrangements for the registration exercise across the Country.
AEP
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