Regional News of Thursday, 22 March 2012

Source: GNA

Ashanti is ready for biometric registration – EC

The Ashanti Regional Office of the Electoral Commission (EC) says all is set for a successful biometric registration exercise in the region.

The region has taken delivery of the needed equipment and logistics and had distributed it to the various constituencies.

The assurance comes barely 48 hours to the start of the compilation of the new voters’ register.

Mr Isaac Owusu, the Deputy Regional Director of the Commission, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that they were about 95 per cent ready.

The region had been grouped into 1,244 clusters and each had been provided with a set of registration machines.

About 7,464 people had been trained to carry out the registration, backed by 90 supervisors and 60 technicians.

Mr Owusu said additional supervisors and technicians had also been trained to assist in densely populated electoral areas for smooth running of the exercise.

“The EC would do everything to make sure that the exercise is free from hitches, and ensure that it is peaceful and transparent.”

Mr Owusu called on all qualified voters in the region to register in their numbers.**