The flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, has stated that persons with disability must collaborate with the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) to ensure that its plan of using tactile ballots to allow visually impaired eligible voters to cast their ballot in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary polls is implemented.
Mr Greenstreet said he and the leadership of persons with disability in the country would have to support the electoral body’s work to realise plans aimed at making voting easier for the physically challenged.
Addressing the leadership of the Ghana Disability Forum, who paid a courtesy call on him in Accra Tuesday February 9, 2016, Mr Greenstreet stated that a lot of sensitisation was needed for visually impaired persons regarding the use of the special tactile ballot introduced to facilitate their participation in the voting process.
“The Electoral Commission has introduced the tactile ballot, so, what we have to do is to engage the Electoral Commission to try and make more education about how that works…” Mr Greenstreet advised.
He also told the body that they could also make things easier for the EC by supplying it with a database of where such persons live, so, they would be highlighted on the electoral roll.
Mr Greenstreet said he had already set about working towards the realisation of that by targeting visually challenged voters in the Upper West region.
“For instance, in my chairman and leader’s region, the Upper West Region, there are a lot of persons with disabilities, in terms of having issues of sight, who will be voting because of some peculiar circumstances or problems over there. So, we will try and gather that information and work hand-in-hand with the EC to make sure there is education, and, number two, on the voting day, those facilities are made available,” Mr Greenstreet revealed.
Source: GhanaWeb
