Let all eligible voters register
In less than 48 hours the doors would officially be closed on the ongoing limited registration exercise across the country which began on April 28, 2016.
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It has so far been a very eventful exercise that has gone to prove that Ghanaians indeed take Election 2016 very seriously.
We find it needful to repeat that the cowardly violence that has become part of our body politic to the extent that people assault others just because they want to register, instead of following the laid-down procedure for reporting such incidents, is very shameful.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has faced several challenges including limited registration kits (3,500 for the entire country) and inadequate registration centres.
But despite all the challenges that nearly marred an otherwise very important exercise, hitherto unregistered Ghanaians now have the authority of the state to take part in all elections because they have been duly registered.
We urge all other qualified but unregistered Ghanaian citizens to take the opportunity to register before the curtains come down on the exercise tomorrow, not only because it is their civic responsibility to do so, but also because “their vote is their power” as the old cliché goes.
All of us have the responsibility to make Ghana what we want it to be and that starts with the choice of good leaders to lead in our development efforts.
We are aware that some people would want to distance themselves from anything politics or anything to do with elections, especially when violence of any kind erupts.
The Daily Graphic does not subscribe to any similitude of violence in our politics because that hinders our onward march as a country.
It is less than 48 hours to the end of the registration exercise but reports indicate that hordes of students have still not had the opportunity to register, giving the impression that the EC did not prepare for them. We urge the EC to, therefore, do something about the situation before the deadline so that the students are not disenfranchised.
We believe that every Ghanaian has a part to play to ensure good governance and development that would benefit every Ghanaian.
That is why we urge everyone to be part of the process, which begins with registration for inclusion in the national voters register. With that ‘passport’ we can have an audacious say in who we want in our legislature and who we would be proud to refer to as our President.
We can only improve the conditions in our nation by voting the right calibre of people into national office and not those who offer themselves for personal gain and to lord it over the people.
The Daily Graphic believes that is possible, if we all put our hands to the wheel by registering to vote, encouraging those we know have the nation at heart to vie for the positions offered and, more importantly, cast our votes from an informed position on November 7, 2016.
For that reason we urge all who are yet to be captured on the electoral roll to find any means possible to get to the nearest registration centre to perform that civic responsibility by 6 p.m. tomorrow.
