Fishermen ‘fight’ EC over voter registration date

Fisher folk in the four fishing regions have called on the Electoral Commission to change the date for the new voter registration as the fixed date, April 2020, will not favour them.

According to them, most fisher folk travel to different countries for fishing from March to September and sticking to the stated registration date will disenfranchise a lot of them.

They have therefore appealed to the National Peace Council (NPC) to impress the EC to rescind its decision.

“Many fisher folks are at sea in neighboring countries and hence cannot be back in time to engage in the new registration exercise. This means that should the EC and the government go ahead with their plan, many fisher folks would be disenfranchised because of no fault of theirs. The number of fisher folks currently on fishing expedition in other countries is extremely huge this time around due to the breaks in fishing activities in Ghana. Therefore, any attempt to go ahead with the exercise without taking them into consideration would be suicidal for our ever-growing democracy,” spokesperson for the aggrieved fishermen in the Greater Accra, Volta, Central and Western Regions, John Quayson, told GhanaWeb in a telephone interview.

He called on the Akufo-Addo government to intervene as the fishing sector also contributes to the economic and political well-being of the country.

“A call is made on the President to act in the interest of the fishermen whose operations contribute immensely to the economic and socio-political well-being of Ghana.”

The fishermen are, however suggesting that the voter registration exercise be rescheduled it to November 2020.

This is despite calls by many groups that even April is not enough time for the registration to be done and everything put in place for the December elections.

Source: ghanaweb.com