The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, has said that the commission will expand voter registration in some hard-to-reach areas in 2024.

The Commission, which believes parliament must be partly blamed for the current challenges associated with the limited registration exercise, is, however, confident every eligible voter would be registered for the 2024 polls.

The Commission argued that the 2023 budget, as approved by parliament, was only for continuous registration exercise and not for the registration of voters in electoral areas.

“Our 2023 workplan and budget is based on a continuous voters’ registration exercise in our district offices. We did not factor registration on electoral area basis in our 2023 budget and workplan. Hence our adoption of this method which is also in line with our long-term plan and vision,” she said.

She also indicated that the commission is “enjoined by law to discuss our budget and workplan with the Special Budget Committee of Parliament prior to approval so both are well known to them. As mentioned, our plan for 2024 is to undertake a mop up registration exercise in difficult to access areas after our continuous registration in our district offices. Those who are unable to register in this ongoing exercise will have the opportunity to do so next year.”

Jean Mensa also expressed optimism that with the long-term continuous registration in all its district offices, coupled with the limited mop up exercise in difficult-to-reach areas in 2024, all eligible voters will be on board, ahead of the 2024 general elections.

While addressing journalists at the Let the Citizens Know series on Monday, September 18, 2023, the EC chairperson also cautioned political parties against registering minors on the electoral roll.

She, however, charged registration supervisors to resist any attempt to register minors on the voters register.

“We are reliably informed about attempts by some persons to get minors on the register. We encourage citizens who observe these illegal practices to challenge them. We have charged our District Electoral Officers who are serving as Registration supervisors to challenge the registration of these minors. We expect that with their effective supervision and leadership, there will be no minors or foreigners on our electoral roll,” she added.

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