Tamale, March 16, GNA - There were long queues in various registration centres in Tamale municipality at the start of the nation-wide registration exercise on Tuesday.

The Electoral Commission is undertaking a two-week exercise to replace the existing voters register, which is considered bloated. Registration officials told GNA that as early as 7.30 hours some electorate have already formed queues anxiously waiting to be registered.

However, the exercise had been slow due to inadequate pencils provided by the EC for the exercise.

At Kalariga and Saqasat primary school in the Vitting area of the municipality, Mr. Seidu John Mumuni the registration officer told the pencil interchangeably which slows down the exercise.

At Gabokpa JSS Mr. Umar Nurudeen the Registration officer described the commencement of the exercise as successful since they had recorded no problem apart from the single pencil they were both using. During the rounds the GNA learnt that there were only representatives of the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress to monitor the exercise.

The Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Charles Bintin and the Tamale Municipal Chief Executive Mr. Iddrisu Adam as well as some personnel from the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council toured some of the registration centres to observe the exercise.

The Deputy Minister and his entourage visited Gumbihini Primary School centre Presbyterian Education Unit centre A and Nyohini South Rehabilitation Centre A where they interacted with the registration officers who described the first day of the exercise as peaceful and successful.