Some residents at Kenyasi Number one on Thursday prevented final year students of OLA Girls Senior High School at Kenyasi in Asutifi District of Brong-Ahafo from registering in the on-going new biometric voters registration exercise.
The students, numbering more than 100, had sought permission from the school authorities to go and register in the town but were sacked by some residents.
Some of the students confirmed to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in a telephone interview that when they went to some registration centers, residents did not allow them to participate in the exercise because they were not inhabitants of the town.
The students who are writing the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) told the GNA the examination would end on May 4, when the exercise would have ended.
“Some of the residents at some of the registration centers even threatened to beat us if we did not leave”, Abigail Gyamfi, a 19 year old form four General Arts student said.
She said majority of the students left the registration centers to the school unregistered whilst others went to other centers if they would be allowed to do so.
Ms. Gyamfi said if something was not done immediately to enable some of them to register, it would mean majority of the students who were eligible would not be able to participate in the exercise and would be disenfranchised.
Another student, Paula Bagor, 20, said some of them walked to Kenyasi number two, where they were allowed to register at a center behind the main police station.
She expressed worry that because of the threats from some of the youth in the area, majority of the students resolved not to participate in the exercise.
Meanwhile, information reaching the GNA indicated that the exercise is characterized with fear and panic as Mr. Eric Addae, District Chief Executive, had allegedly engaged military personnel to patrol the registration centers.
The situation, a source close to the GNA confirmed, had affected the conduct of the exercise, as many prospective voters feared to turn up.
Efforts by the GNA to reach Mr. Addae on his cell phone proved futile as it was repeatedly switched off.
Source: GNA
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