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Information available to Today shows a situation of confusion and build-up of tension among party members and executives of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the North Tongu Constituency over the shortage of forms for the ongoing biometric registration.

Our checks revealed that as at 5:00 P.M., on Sunday, August 9, 2015 all the 110 electoral areas in North Tongu in the Volta region had ran out of forms which were released by the regional head office for the exercise, thus halting the registration process.

The situation, this paper gathered, has raised suspicion among supporters of some parliamentary aspirants and party members who accused constituency executives of hoarding the forms to promote some other people’s interest.

Some party members suspected that the executives were keeping the forms so that they could use them to register supporters of their favourite aspirants to the disadvantage of other potential contenders to the North Tongu parliamentary seat.
The ruling party is compiling a register of its members using the biometric system.

This, the party believes, will aid it to build a credible register of its members which could serve as the voters list for the upcoming parliamentary primaries later this year.

The second phase of the process begun last week and is expected to end in August 16, 2015.

However, the process has hit a snag in some electoral areas in communities such as Juapong, Battor, Aveyime, Fordzorku, Dorfu-Adidome and Mafi-Luta, following the shortage of the registration forms.

Juapong, which has the highest turnout so far, is the hardest hit with all the one hundred and ten (110) electoral areas running out of the materials.

The development compelled electoral officers and party executives to call off the process much to the disappointment of teeming supporters who had turned up for the exercise.

A source at the regional office in Ho told Today only one booklet containing twenty (25) registration forms were each supplied to the registration centres but got finished before the process could end.

Confirming the shortage to this paper, the North Tongu NDC Constituency Chairman, Mr. Moses Amenudor, said, a fewer number of forms were allocated to the constituency because the exercise was a mere mop up.

According to him, the party did not anticipate there would be such a huge interest in the process.

He said the quantities delivered were based on information provided by the constituency to the regional head office, saying the constituency projected to register about ten thousand (10,000) members.

Mr. Amenudor said he would submit all completed forms in his custody after which he expects to be given additional forms to continue with the registration.

He, however, denied allegations that the constituency executives were hoarding the forms and distributing them to a selected few to enable them determine who becomes the next parliamentary candidate of the ruling party in the constituency for the 2016 elections.

On why the executives moved from house-to-house registering members, the constituency chairman explained that members were refusing to come to the registration centres, hence the decision to take the process to them since that was what the members wanted.

It would be recalled that last week, Today reported that NDC officials in North Tongu were registering people in their homes instead of doing so at designated centres.

Mr. Amenudor also denied charges that nepotism and favouritism had occasioned the BVR process.