Elections scheduled to come off today [Thursday] for Graduate Students of the University of Ghana has been put on hold. pending a meeting between the parties involved in the election and the Dean of Students Affairs, Prof. Godfred Bokpin.
According to reports, some candidates have raised issues over the credibility of the voters’ register.
Others have also expressed concerns about the non-publication of the voters’ register to the University Community few hours to the election.
But the UG GRASAG Electoral Commissioner, Odortor Ayernor-Sikafutu, has denied any wrongdoing on his part.
In an interview with UniversNews, he said that upon the request of students and the candidates, he sent a copy of the register to their WhatsApp platforms and opened window for correction.
He explained that he corrected some mistakes in the register after receiving feedback and resent the updated register to the groups.
“They requested a PDF format of the register on their WhatsApp platforms so they give me feedback. I did it for the first time and I received feedback. So I then edited it, updated and re-posted. This time, only two students complained because they couldn’t find their names.
Odortor Ayernor-Sikafutu explained further even though he attempted to solve the problem of missing names in the register, he realized that it was mainly due to the Computer Application used in putting the names together.
He added that he then decided to back the register for the respective polling stations with that of the main register of students so everyone can exercise their franchise – a decision he says the candidates were informed of.
“The sorting was becoming a bit difficult so what I did was that I’ll back the polling station register with the master register which has the name of all students. So in the case you have any challenge, you provide your statement of account as well as your ID or any national ID”
An early meeting between stakeholders in this year’s UG GRASAG election and the Dean of Students Affairs was held yesterday to address the grievances of some candidates.
Talking about what transpired at the meeting, the EC Chairman said that the Dean had called for the Electoral Commission and candidates to sort out their issues before going forward with the election
“The Dean’s position was that, there are issues and even though he knows that the alternative I’m suggesting is one of the ways to go about it, he also feel that some of the candidates were to be made to understand the electoral processes.”
Odortor Ayernor-Sikafutu also noted that efforts are being made to ensure that a new date for the election will be announced soon.
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Story by: Jeffrey Nyabor and Manuel Koranteng