BY: Lambert Coffie | Voltaonlinegh.com|

A group calling itself the ‘Coalition of District Assembly Assembly Aspirants’ (CODAA) has cautioned the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) against its intention to restrict the upcoming limited voter registration exercise to its District Offices.

The EC has set to conduct the limited voter registration exercise across all its 268 district offices from Tuesday, 12th September to Monday, 2nd October 2023,with the focus of registering some 1,350,000 during the period.

But at press briefing in  Ho, the national Convenor of CODAA, Mr. Mawunyo Agbe, who doubles as the Presiding Member of Ho Municipal Assembly, described the EC’s decision as an affront to  local governance.

He queried how prospective first-time voters – largely SHS graduates  would travel long distances to register for the voter I.D. card in their district capitals, amidst the current economic difficulties.

Mr. Agbe further questioned “What would motivate these young, first-time voters to take such a risk? Even so that, we all know the voter card now has no other use, aside for voting.”

The group, thus, want the exercise extended  to the electoral areas, in order to lessen the burden on first time applicants, and also  help whip up public interest in the upcoming District Level Elections, the intended purpose for the registration exercise.

Below is his full statement.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE COALITION OF DISTRICT ASSEMBLY ASPIRANTS (CODAA)

Good morning ladies and Gentlemen of the press, permit me to stand on all the exiting protocols established for the day. I am here on behalf of all members of CODAA across the length and breadth of the country to welcome you all to this all- important press conference.

Ladies and Gentlemen, on Thursday 17th August 2023, the Electoral Commission provided pieces of information on the upcoming voter registration exercise as well as the District Assembly Elections, and as part of the legal framework pursuant to regulation 2(1) of 2016(C.I.91) as amended, the electoral commission would embark on a voter’s registration exercise in all 268 district offices of the commission from Tuesday, September, 12 to Monday October,2, 2023 and hoping to register 1,350.000 new voters by the close of the registration exercise this year.

The COALITION views the above decision and notice by the EC as frivolous and one that falls short of promoting Local Governance in Ghana, especially in terms of participation in District Assembly elections by eligible voters.

Ladies and Gentlemen, permit, me to ask if it is not insensitive or absurd to demand from an 18year old who perhaps has just completed SHS to board a vehicle and embark on a 20 to 50 kilometers journey to the District Electoral Office to register for a voter ID card? Under this excruciating economy, what will be the motivation of these young first-time voters to take the risk? Friends from the media, let’s take Ho West for example, what will be the motivation for an eighteen-year-old to move to say, from Abutia Kisifli to Dzolo-Kpuita at a transport fare of not less than ghe 80.00 to go register to vote? Is it that the EC does not consider the district level elections as equally important as other elections that they mandated by law to organize and supervise?

Also consider such an 18-year-old as part of his or her additional responsibility to transport two additional guarantors to the district office. The COALITION believes all the above financial cost is absolutely needless.

The EC equally has no consideration for the loss of productive hours.

It is a well-known fact that, congestion often occurs at the various District centers especially taking into consideration the target of 1,350,000 it is seeking to achieve. A second look at the target set by the Electoral Commission seems already not feasible, because if it takes approximately 10 minutes on average to register one person within the 21 days period the Electoral Commission is seeking, to do this and with the above arrangement how possible can it be, for example, if there are two centers at each District and with an exercise billed to start from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (9hours daily).

A careful look at the exercise can only end in registering just about 900,000 persons which would be a 40% short of their set target. Ladies and Gentlemen, checks indicates that, participation level successive District Assembly Elections (DLE) are not encouraging, in 2019 November District Assembly election figures showed less than 40% turnout across the country, the above abysmal performance, we expect must be considered by the EC before arriving at its modalities, especially considering the decision of bringing to the District’s Office to register.

What is shocking is that, it has eluded the EC that registration if done at the various electoral areas whips up the enthusiasm in voters that districts assembly elections is beckoning and the only resultant effect in decentralizing the registration process only ends up massive participation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, with the above challenges enumerated, the COALITION demand that, the Electoral commission quickly change its position and deploy electoral materials to each Electoral Area to achieve the needed proximity by cutting down costs, wastage of man power, the associated risks and a decision that would also end up boosting participation across the length and breadth of the nation.

The District Level Election (DLE) in Ghana are essential part of the nation decentralized governance system and COALITION is bent on protecting and promoting it from the structural obstacles currently being deployed by the Electoral Commission of Ghana which would lead it to a total collapse.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press the COALITION will consider other legal options should the EC refuses to change its stance.

Thank you all for coming.

Convener, Hon Mawunyo Agbe (Presiding Member Ho Municipal Assembly)

Source: ww.voltaonlinegh.com