The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has registered its displeasure with the Electoral Commission's (EC) ongoing Limited Voter Registration exercise. 

According to NUGS, the Commission did not take into consideration the huge numbers on the respective campuses to make adequate provision in terms of registration centres for students.

In a statement, Thursday, NUGS President, Paa Quecy Adu said they have "observed the difficulty and time-consuming inconvenience students are going through as participants in the ongoing Limited Voter Registration exercise."

While pleading with students to be calm, Mr. Adu called "on the EC to as a matter of necessity and urgency consider increasing the registration centers on the various campuses as well as extend the duration."

"We are again calling on all students and youth to refuse to grant audience to politicians or individuals who have the penchant for inciting youths to violence for political gains," the statement said.

Below is the statement.

 

NUGS STATEMENT ON THE ON-GOING LIMITED VOTER REGISTRATION REGARDING STUDENTS' PARTICIPATION IN THE EXERCISE
 
The National Union of Ghana Students NUGS has observed the difficulty and time-consuming inconvenience students, especially in tertiary institutions are going through as participants in the ongoing Limited Voter Registration exercise, and we wish to unequivocally register our disappointment in the Electoral Commission's inability to proactively provide adequate Registration centers on the various university campuses, knowing campus demographies regards huge numbers, especially of first, second and third year students' participation.

The University communities house a huge number of students, majority of whom are potential first-time voters who would be readily available to register, however, the Electoral Commission could not do a proper estimation to see the need for providing more registration centers to enable all these potential voters to register conveniently in the on-going Limited Voters Registration exercise.

This is an act we at NUGS consider utterly unacceptable.

We are therefore calling on the Electoral Commission to as a matter of necessity and urgency consider increasing the registration centers on the various campuses as well as extend the duration for these communities and similar flashpoints of massive participation in the registration exercise.

The inability of the Electoral Commission to succinctly deal with these challenges will not help the smooth success of the exercise.

While calling on the Electoral Commission to address the issues as urgent as it deserves, we wish to call on all students to remain calm, resolute and disciplined at the centers, as we work to help make all qualified students register accordingly.

Also, the Union wishes to condemn all forms of violence characterizing the entire Exercise and would like to  call on all students and youths to resist being enrolled to carry out any form of violence during and after the registration exercise. 

We are again calling on all students and youth to refuse to grant audience to politicians or individuals who have the penchant for inciting youths to violence for political gains.

Equally, all political parties must understand that the use of violence to register their disagreement and challenge of minors is totally unacceptable and of course a primitive way of addressing issues. 

All parties must make good use of the challenge forms as provided by the Electoral Commission and in terms of misunderstanding, the right procedures be followed to ventilate grievances.

We are also making our own independent assessment and monitoring of the entire exercise and will make public our findings on the 2016 Limited Voter Registration Exercise. 

Thank you.

SIGNED

PAA-QUECY ADU
NUGS PRESIDENT