Mrs Jean Mensa, Chairperson for the Electoral Commission (EC) has said that the Commission has no intentions to disenfranchise any eligible voter in the upcoming new voter’s register compilation exercise.

“We want to assure you that as a Commission, our rationale for compiling a new register is not to disenfranchise any eligible voter. On the contrary, it is to ensure that all our citizens who qualify are afforded the opportunity to register and cast their votes.”

Mrs Mensa made this comment at a News Conference held in Accra on Monday to spell out the measures put in place by the Commission to ensure a smooth exercise come Tuesday, June 30, 2020 to Thursday, August 6, 2020.

She said the Commission was of the view that only eligible citizens should have the right to determine who governed and led the nation.

She assured citizens that every decision and action taken by them were without fear or favour and without recourse to any individual or group of persons.

The EC Chairperson said the participation of citizens in the exercise and monitoring it was critical to maintain the integrity of the register, thus, she called on everyone to keep a close eye on every aspect of the process and report any anomaly that they may observe.

She said CI 126 specified that for anyone to be eligible to register as a voter, he or she had to present a valid passport or a National Identification Card issued by the National Identification Authority.

CI 126 further states that in an event that a citizen of Ghana does not have either of the required documents, he or she must present two guarantors who must themselves have registered under the current registration process to vouch for or guarantee the identity of the said person as a citizen of Ghana.

Mrs Mensa said all registration centres across the country would be set up in open fields, and would not use School or Church premises and would use the Commission’s own furniture as was its norm in years past.

She said the registration process for each individual was estimated not to exceed 10 minutes.

In compliance with all Covid-19 safety protocols, she said furniture, finger print scanners, gadgets and fittings would be continually wiped with alcohol wipes.

She said all people entering the registration centre would be required to wear nose masks and on arrival, every person’s temperature would be taken using a thermometer gun and persons with a temperature above 37.8 degrees Celsius would be directed to health personnel at the registration centres or nearest public health facility and special arrangement would be made for them to register.

She said the commission would provide liquid soap with Veronica buckets while the mandatory washing of hands before joining the queue would be enforced and there would be strict adherence to physical distance of at least a meter in the queue in all centres.

She said Hand sanitizers would be provided for the mandatory sanitizing of hands when leaving the centres and gave the assurance that there would be security presence at all centres to maintain law and order.