As if the Electoral Commission does not have enough problems on its hands, prospective voters who had trooped to some registration centers in the northern to register, were left to their own fate as figure print scanners, low batteries and slow pace of machines made the process quite an ordeal.
The registration exercise is opened exclusively to people who have turned 18 and to those who have not registered before. The Electoral Commission is hoping to register about 1.2 million people over the next ten days at selected registration centers across the country.
As at about 10.00 am on Thursday, no single potential voter registered at the Lamashegu L/A primary school registration center because of faulty machines. The registration officer at the center told Zaa news that many people had to be turned away because of faulty machines which have been sent back to EC regional officer for replacement.
At the Zogbeli primary school registration center, the registration officer was not happy about the slow nature of the machines. Only 8 people registered there as at 10:30am.
At the Nyohini JHS registration center, the batteries of the machines were running down quickly, registration officer, Azazi Damba told Zaa News.
The Nyohini center recorded the highest number of potential voters among the centers Zaa News visited. It recorded 20 people as at 11:20am. When Zaa News contacted the northern regional director of the Electoral Commission, Mr Bruce Ayisu, he told Zaa News his outfit was yet to receive complaints from registration officers.
Mr Ayisu said the EC has opened 319 registration centers with 1941 officers manning the centers, Mr Ayisu disclosed. He, however, gave the assurance there are backups for any eventuality.