The Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed that it has re-registered 52 percent of the over-56,000 deleted National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) registrants onto the electoral register.
The deletion and re-registration exercise ordered by the Supreme Court according to the EC saw the re-registering of 29,550 persons “which represents 52 percent of the 56,772 deleted names.”
The Head of Communications at the EC, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, outlined the figures to Citi News explaining that at the end of the first 10-day phase, 24,287 people were re-registered.
The EC had initially insisted that the first phase would be the only period for the re-registration amidst an uproar from stakeholders raising concerns of the mass disenfranchisement of eligible voters.
The Commission later backtracked on its stance and extended the exercise with a second phase starting from August 5 to August 12 which saw and extra 5,263 persons re-registered, persons who would other-wise been disenfranchised.
Two days left for the re-registration
Mr. Dzakpasu also added that there will be two extra days for persons to re-register as part of the continuous registrations.
“Beyond this, on the 19th of August which is this and the next Friday on the 26th of August is the window for continuous registration so all person who have not registered before including people whose names have been deleted from the register because they used the NHIS to register have these last two days as their opportunity to register,” he explained.
“Unlike the first phase when at the closure of the exercise, we had a backlog of people, some even at the district office… at the close of the second phase, all the offices and registration centre were devoid of people who wanted to register.”
“We are only hoping that on the 19th and the 26th, those who are left wherever they may be will take advantage and go to our offices to register,” he added.
Persons who fail to re-register within this period can expect no further extensions according to the EC Communicator.
“Whether we are going back to go and look out for names; I don’t think so.by the close of the 26th, that brings to a closure the issue of the re-registration,” Mr. Dzakpasu cautioned.
Sign up here to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana, Africa. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
