NPP files complaint to EC over faulty registration machines

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it has filed a complaint with the Electoral Commission (EC) over some faulty registration equipment across the country.

Hundreds of first time voters have been left stranded and frustrated in many registration centers due to faulty equipment and the slow pace of registration.

In the Northern Region, many eager eligible registrants have been queuing for days and in the Tamale metro center, only 72 people have been enrolled onto the register since Tuesday due to challenges with the equipment.

Some of the residents told JoyNews they’ve been to the centre since the commencement of the exercise and are yet to get the chance to have their names captured.

“This is our third day of coming here. It didn’t go well for us at all,” one resident complained.

But the Tamale EC Director, Bismark Nti says they have seen some level of improvement after new machines were delivered.

“The first two days we had serious challenges here. As for the first day it was terrible, we were able to register five people. As at now the keys are working very well.”

The situation is not different across the country.

The NDC have been accusing the EC of intentionally distributing faulty machines to their strongholds as a means of suppressing their votes in the upcoming 2024 general elections.

But in reaction to that the NPP Deputy General Secretary, Haruna Mohammed says the NDC should stop complaining since the problem is nationwide.

“They should stop whining and they should stop pointing their fingers at people here and there. Yes, we know that is the job of the opposition, but you must do that very responsibly. These are machines. Even the phones that they use sometimes disappoint them.

“These are machines that we constantly have to be working on. What we have to encourage is to make sure that the electoral commission put on standby their technicians to ensure these machines are resolves quickly as possible,” he said.

However, the NPP has also filed complaints to the Electoral Commission concerning the faulty machines.

“In some areas it has been very smooth, in other areas we have seen the slow pace of the machines that we are using for the registration for which the NPP as a party is worried with that particular pace. We have made official complaints to the Electoral commission,” the NPP Deputy General Secretary, Haruna Mohammed said.

Meanwhile, the electoral commission had earlier told JoyNews these challenges are normal and will be addressed before the registration process ends in October.

“If you compare the hiccups yesterday as compared to today you’d realise that the problem has gone down drastically. And it is normal, all the people that I spoke to I told them we’re doing this exercise for 21 days and basically the first three days you’d have the challenges and they’ll be addressed and by the time you’ll finish with the third day the system would have been smooth. So all that is happening is normal,” Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Electoral Services at the Electoral Commission, said.

Source: Ghana News