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The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Josephine Nkrumah has called on Ghanaians not to stay away from voting ahead of the 2020 elections.

Some Ghanaians have expressed apathy towards the 2020 general elections; a situation that has been partly blamed for the low turnout in the ongoing voters’ register exhibition exercise.

However, speaking at a forum dubbed ‘Making Democracy Work for the People’ which was organized by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana, the NCCE boss said staying away from elections is not the solution to the problems of democracy.

“I use every opportunity to always encourage the participation of Ghanaians in democracy by exercising their voting rights. If we want a vibrant democracy as a people, we shouldn’t say that because we’re not getting what we want, we’re not going to vote. Now more than ever, we should vote.”

“This is about multi-party democracy. If you feel that you are not getting what you want from either of the two dominant parties, there are other options for you. There are other parties. So we should begin to interrogate what those other parties also present and determine whether this is a better option or not,” she stated.

The voters’ register exercise experienced low patronage and a number of challenges at the various registration centres.

Constituencies like New Juaben North and South in the Eastern Region faced the challenge of not having the needed materials supplied from the EC headquarters, thereby hindering residents from checking their details on the first day of the exercise.

A similar incident happened at the Tamale Central constituency of the Northern Region.

The Director of the Centre for Asian Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr. Lloyd Adu Amoah, at the event urged political parties to focus on development rather than the privileges that come with being in power.

“When power is won, the next thing is the spoils of power; who gets what within the party. Our parties lose focus on those big questions; futuristic questions. So I think that there needs to be a reconfiguration of the overall mindset and philosophy in terms of our parties in Ghana,” the Director said.

EC extends voters’ register exhibition exercise

The Electoral Commission has subsequently extended the voters’ register exhibition exercise.

The exercise started on September 10, 2019 and was expected to end on September 17, 2019.

A statement signed by Acting Director of Public Affairs at the EC, Sylvia Annor said the exercise will now end on September 20th 2019.