Some applicants in the limited voter registration exercise in the Asokore Mampong Municipality have had to pass the night at various centres.
They resorted to early arrival after days of failing to complete registration.
The applicants have had to compete with political party agents who use stones and other objects seats in queuing for their prospective electorate.
It’s a few minutes past 3AM, a little cold as the dawn light rains get heavier.
The gates of the Electoral Commission’s office at Asokore Mampong remain closed. But in front of the office are stones and chairs lined up.
Each stone represents an applicant, the bench stands in for three or more people.
With time, some people who came in attempted to form another queue of humans but this would not be accepted by those who had kept awake with the stones and chairs in the queue.
Abranch women’s organizer for the NDC in Asawase Constituency, Seida Alhassan who was in the middle of the misunderstanding alleges, “I am a branch organizer for my political party. I am bringing my party members to register that is why I came this early to queue for them. I could have slept in my house. I was here when you brought your children to queue, I even offered seats for them, how do you come and skip our queue here?”
Many are left frustrated after spending hours in queue since the beginning of the exercise.
Some applicants have queued for at least two days, yet have not been successful.
They plead for measures to be taken to ease their frustration.
“We have been quarreling since we got here at 4 am. I got the chance to register around 11 a.m. People are queuing with stones and benches. I have to find a way to jump the queue,” Mustapha Mohammed said.
Figures available to Joy News indicate the electoral commission is unable to meet the daily target of three hundred. About 80 applicants were registered on the first day.
Less than 300 applicants were successful in the second and third days of the exercise.
The number of applicants continues to rise, as efforts by interest groups to get the EC to increase the registration centres are yet to yield results.
Source: Nana Yaw Gyimah
