Former Ghanaian Electoral Commission (EC) Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has urged the Jean Mensa-led election management body not to abandon the guarantor system for the ongoing voter registration process.
The majority of Ghanaians haven’t offered any convincing arguments in support of the EC’s plan to abolish the guarantor system.
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Earlier, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, Chairperson of the EC, briefed Parliament on the proposed Constitutional Instrument (CI), which aims to make the Ghana Card the only document required for voter registration.
According to Mrs. Mensa, the proposed CI would actually strengthen the legitimacy of the Ghanaian voters’ register, in contrast to the Minority’s fears.
Jean Mensa has consistently insisted that the provisions of the current draft CI, including the use of the Ghana Card as the only form of voter identification, are still applicable to Ghana’s electoral process.
She argued that the proposal aims to support ongoing voter registration and purge the electoral system of ineligible people during a presentation on the draft CI’s status to parliament.
Dr. Dominic Ayine, the chairman of the subsidiary legislation committee, argued that the existing CI used for the 2020 registration is still very effective and that there is no need for a new one.
Dr. Afari-Gyan, however, argued that the EC was mistaken in asserting that the guarantor system was not reliable.
Insofar as the National Identification Authority (NIA) permitted the guarantor regime in the registration for the Ghana Card, he explained that there was nothing stopping the EC from doing the same for the voter registration process and strengthening that system as it saw fit.
“What prevents the commission from instituting, in the upcoming constitutional instrument (CI), a guarantor regime as robust as or even more robust than the one being used by the NIA for doing the Ghana Card?” he asked.
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The Minority in Parliament has vehemently opposed the CI in the meantime because it is difficult to obtain a Ghana Card.
The MPs argued that the proposed CI, which aims to do away with the guarantor system as a means of demonstrating one’s eligibility to be listed on the voters register, is a calculated scheme to deny millions of Ghanaians the chance to register and have their names placed on the electoral roll.
The Minority contends that the reasoning behind the change is flawed and that the tried-and-true guarantor system must remain in the EC’s new CI.
