Africa-Press – Ghana. The Electoral Commission (EC) has served notice to publish the names of all the guarantors who flouted the rule in the recently-held limited voter registration exercise.
The commission says it abhors violation of the rule and will therefore act to bring the perpetrators to book.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, October 17, a Deputy Commissioner, Samuel Tettey, said the elections management body is determined to register all eligible voters but is not ready to condone any act of illegality.
The commission said it registered 910,996 voters in the limited registration exercise which took place in September and ended effective Monday, October 2, across all the 268 district offices of the commission.
Ashanti Region recorded the highest number of registrants accounting for about 16 percent of the total figure. The Savannah Region recorded the lowest with just 2 percent of the figure.
Mr Tettey called on the government to fund the National Identification Authority (NIA) to enable the authority to print the Ghana Card to all persons. Similarly, the body asked Parliament to pass the Constitutional Instrument (CI) which will make the Ghana Card the sole identification document for registration.
He said “On the guarantor system the commission is of the view that under our current circumstances, the guarantor system has outlived its usefulness and cannot be maintained. The best proof of a person’s citizenship in Ghana is the Ghana Card.
“The use of the guarantor system is fraught with blatant abuse as witnessed in the just-ended voter registration exercise. Most countries in the subregion like Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Rwanda and Kenya do not use the guarantor system as evidence of identification. If, indeed, we are committed to strengthening our electoral processes then the guarantor system must be abolished sooner than later.
“We call on the government to fund NIA, additionally, we entreat parliament to pass the CI on the registration of voters. The Commission appalls the encouragement of minors to register, this is a crime, it does not augur well for us as a nation and we urge all citizens, and stakeholders to join the commission to solve this problem.”
He added “The sad part is that these minors were bussed to registration centers by citizens who should know better, this is unpardonable and we once again call on the government to resource NIA to produce the cards and parliament to approve the CI to enable us to use the Ghana Card as sole means to identify a person’s citizenship.”
He added “The commission wishes to inform the general public that guarantors who breached the law and perpetrated the act of guaranteeing for more than 10 applicants will not go unpunished, their names will be published in the national dailies and they will be brought to prosecution. It is in the interest of the commission to register every eligible applicant however, the commission will not sit aloof to let go of offenders who flout its laws.”
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