Ashanti-Kpoeta, (V/R), March 20, GNA – Mr Mohammed Addoquaye, Volta Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), last Friday commended officials of the voters’ registration exercise in the region for exercising patience with the Commission over the payment of their allowances. He explained that the Commission was not averse to paying higher levels of allowances to them. Mr Mohammed Addoquaye explained that the EC was constrained by its budget which is influenced by the fragile nature of the economy and the burden on the Consolidated Fund to which the allowances are charged. He made said these when he visited registration centres at Ashanti-Kpoeta about five-kilometres from the Ghana-Togo border to acquaint himself with how the exercise was being undertaken there. Mr Addoquaye expressed satisfaction that that registration officials in the region had exercised such high level of restraint despite fears that they might also lay down their tools as was done by some officials. He conceded that this year’s registration exercise placed greater responsibilities on the registration officials because of the new mechanisms aimed at eliminating lapses, which previously created avenues for abuses. Mr Addoquaye said registration officials whose performance would be of high quality could be engaged during the display of the registers and the holding of the forthcoming elections. He requested the registration officials to keep accurate records of their daily figures and to work according to laid down procedure. Mr Kwaku Foli, the Registration Officer in-charge of the Kpoeta-Kpodzi centre assured the EC that officials would work hard to ensure the success of the registration and said he hoped reports of boycotts by other colleagues would not disrupt the exercise. A total of 902 eligible voters had registered as at 1600 hours on Friday with each centre registering the highest turnout on the first day of the exercise.
