Ridiculous! TMA REQUESTS TO FUND EC

Though the Parliament of Ghana has approved the budget from the Executive for the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections, the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has, surprisingly, requested the electoral body to meet its Budget Committee for financial support, ahead of its planned compilation of a new voters’ register.

Joseph Korto, Presiding Member (PM) of the TMA, advised the Tema Metro EC to put in the request for budgetary support in view of the latter’s scheduled exercise for the compilation of the new voters’ register.

The nationwide exercise begins on June 30 and ends on August 6, barring a determination by the Supreme Court against the EC’s exercise.

Appearing before the house on Tuesday to make a presentation on its movement plan for the upcoming registration exercise, Manasseh Ofosuhene Asante, Tema Metro EC Officer, explained that 268 polling centers in the Tema East and Central metropolises would have five sub-registration centers each, with 54 clusters. He said the exercise would be in five phases, followed by a mop up.

Each center would be manned by eight EC personnel, and each phase of the exercise, he added, would last for six days with only two days rest for the officers. Mr Asante continued that three personnel would be stationed at each cluster, specifically for the aged and vulnerable, “because we do not want these people to stay long in the queue during these periods of the registration exercise.”

At the registration centers, he added: “The EC will deploy six personnel to each center, where we expect everybody to come there in a facemask. We will be clothed in our protective gears and ensure that all social distancing protocols are observed. And to quote the President, we are not going to let our guards down.”

The two requisite documents that qualify one to acquire the new voters’ card are a Ghanaian travelling passport or the ECOWAS-Ghana ID card, and once the applicant is issued with the voter’s ID card, he or she can guarantee the acquisition of the card for ten eligible voters who do not have either of the required documents.

However, Manasseh Ofosuhene Asante warned that anybody who guarantees for more than the required ten may be prosecuted after all the data is exported to the EC’s central data center for verification of the biometrics of all guarantors.

“I would advise that we all stay within the ten, so that we don’t find ourselves in the arms of the law after the exercise,” Mr Asante said.

He went on to entreat all the assembly members to sensitise their electorates on the upcoming exercise, and the need for them avoid rushing to the centers on the first few days, “because we will make sure that everybody who is eligible is not left out of this all-important national exercise.”

Listening to the movement plans as explained by Manasseh Ofosuhene Asante, and the length of days for the exercise, Joseph Korto, Tema Metro PM, said: “We don’t know your budget for this long days of exercise, but don’t hesitate to put in a request for financial support for your exercise. Our Budget Committee will be looking forward to receiving your request, should you need it.”

 

The post Ridiculous! TMA REQUESTS TO FUND EC appeared first on The Chronicle Online.

Read Full Story