The University Students Association
of Ghana (USAG), have also accused the EC of essentially disenfranchising
eligible students with its handling of the registration exercise on the various
campuses.
The
Commission set a 10-day period for the exercise which is set to end on
Sunday May 8, but USAG says less than 10 percent of eligible
student voters have been able to register.
Speaking
after observing the registration exercise at the University of Ghana, Legon
campus on Wednesday, Dr. Bawumia stated that the EC will fall way below its
target of registering 8,000 people on the campus.
All though
he acknowledged the current circumstances were not deliberate, he intimated
that the inaction of the EC was effectively disenfranchising students.
“Five days
you have been able to do 400 and you are talking about 8000 potential people
and so this is really a practical disenfranchisement of the people. You are
disenfranchising students practically. If you say you are not doing so intentionally
but practically you are doing so.”
Dr.
Bawumia echoed the calls of frustrated students saying the EC could rectify the
situation by simply increasing the number of registration centres on the
various campuses.
“…And so
if we don’t want to disenfranchise people, we need to bring in adequate or a
few more registration centers to cater for the population and I think this is
what has been missed… I would like to encourage the Electoral Commission
to do what is right, to bring in a few more registration centers on Legon
campus and anywhere else where this sort of go-slow is pertaining.”
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