Jean Mensa, EC Boss
A TOTAL of 232 out of the over 43,000 people registered, have been ‘challenged’ during the first week of the ongoing Limited Registration Exercise in the Ashanti Region.
Benjamin Bannor Bio, the Ashanti Regional Electoral Commission (EC) Boss, who made the disclosure, said 53 people were challenged on the first day alone.
The number of challenged applicants, he said, then reduced sharply, saying “by the close of the first week, 232 out of the over 43,000 applicants have been challenged.”
Speaking about how the registration exercise had been conducted in the Ashanti Region so far on Hello FM, he said generally the exercise had been smooth and said the number of the challenged applicants during the first week of the exercise was on the low side.
Mr. Bannor Bio vehemently debunked wild speculations that the EC had created a special registration center on the blind side of the political parties, saying “it is false!”
According to him, the EC in the Ashanti Region had been conducting the registration exercise strictly according to the rules and no fishy deal had taken place.
“We have not created any special registration center in the region that the political parties, who are the major stakeholders in the ongoing exercise, are not aware.
“Such wild reports are just the imagination of some people so I will appeal to the public, especially the political parties and their members, to reject them,” he indicated.
Mr. Bannor Bio urged the public, especially those that are registering for the first time, to always comport themselves and abide by the rules of the exercise to ensure peace.
He said the EC is committed to conduct the important exercise in an open and transparent manner so the public should give them (EC) their full support to deliver.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi