Tema records low turn-out for Exhibition of Voters’ Register
The Tema Metropolis on Monday recorded a low turn-out on the first day of the Exhibition of the Voters’ Register.
The nation-wide exhibition which aimed at giving voters the opportunity to correct errors on their particulars in the Register would end on Sunday, August 15.
Eligible voters are expected to check the correct spelling of their names, ages, gender status and pictures in the Register.
A visit to some polling stations in the Tema Metropolis by the Ghana News Agency revealed that the turn-out on the first day was very low.
The centres visited were empty as the polling assistants were spotted sitting idly waiting for eligible voters.
Polling Assistants at the Mante Din Primary School Centre, Teachers Resource Centre, Oninku Drive JHS, Community One Police Station, and the Saint Alban School, described the turn-out as not encouraging.
They attributed the low turn-out to the Ghanaian attitude of “waiting till the last minute before rushing to participate”.
Some of the Polling Assistants also said either the publicity was not enough, or majority of the people were yet to understand the need for the Exhibition.
They, therefore, called on the Electoral Commission, the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), and the Information Services Department, to use their information vans to inform the public, instead of advertising only in the media.
They appealed to Assembly Members and politicians to encourage their community members and followers to participate in the exercise to correct the perception by some Ghanaians that the register was bloated.
As at 1030 hours when the GNA visited the two Polling Stations at the Teachers Resource Centre, out of 2,476 registered voters for the two stations, only one person had checked on his particulars in the register.
Out of the 3,279 total registered voters in the registers at the four Polling Stations at the Oninku Drive JHS Centre, only 23 had checked as at 1230 hours.
The situation was not different at the Mante Din Primary School as only 29 out of the over 3,500 registered voters for the three Polling Stations, had visited the centre as at 1300 hours.
Source: GNA