Faulty voters’ register can affect Ghana’s peace – Commissioner

Mr Amadu Sulley, the Deputy Electoral Commissioner, on Thursday said a faulty voters’ register could affect the democratic process and peace in the country.

In order to prevent this, he said the voters’ register would soon be opened for validation to enable qualified voters who are not on the register to register.

Mr Sulley, who has oversight responsibilities on the Upper East branch of the EC, said this when he addressed the media at a capacity building training in Bolgatanga on the theme: “Enhancing Inclusiveness in Ghana’s Electoral Processes,” sponsored by the USAID.

The training was aimed at enhancing the knowledge of media personnel about the electoral system of Ghana, voter registration processes and also to enable the journalists to express their opinions on issues relating to the electoral system.

Mr Sulley explained that the C.I. 91; Public Election Regulation 2016, dealt with laws guiding the conduct of registration and urged the media to take up the important role as stakeholders of the EC to provide accurate education and information as they were key in making the elections credible.

Mr Fred Tetteh, the Principal Electoral Officer in charge of Research, who took participants through election reporting, asked the journalists to be fair and balanced in their reportage.

He said the EC would continue to update the media on preparations towards the election and asked the media to leave the declaration of election results to the EC, saying; “the media does not have the power to declare results”.

He urged media personnel to take note of the use of ‘polling station’ and ‘constituency’ in their reportage.

Mr Samuel Akapule from the Ghana News Agency, who spoke on the contributions of the media in elections, advised reporters to be mindful of media owners and politicians who would like to use their medium to promote selfish political interests.

He urged all to maintain a high level of professionalism, to be accurate and remain impartial in their coverage of the elections.

Source: GNA