EC must add guarantor system

Parliament last Friday rejected unanimously the Electoral Commission’s (EC’s) proposal to use the Ghana Card as the sole source of identification to register eligible voters onto the new continuous voters register.

As an alternative, the House recommended to the EC to include the age-old guarantor system as part of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulation, 2023, which is going through pre-laying processes, before it is laid before the House for consideration.

In the wisdom of the House, using the Ghana Card alone might negatively impact the electoral roll, as it is likely to deny some qualified persons from registering and voting in the 2024 general election.

“The EC should tarry slowly until every eligible voter is afforded the opportunity to register and procure the Ghana Card before the legislation of such a compulsion,” the MPs advised.

The Daily Graphic wholly supports the view Parliament has espoused and the subsequent recommendations and considers them very commendable. For once, we are seeing a House speaking with one voice. This has not been the case, at least in this Parliament.

Since the inception of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic, the country has seen MPs on both sides of the House at each other’s throat as they disagree on almost every issue, often letting their parties’ interests supercede those of the national. 

For the Daily Graphic, the fact that legislators agreed unanimously on the thorny issue underscores the importance both sides of the House attach to matters regarding election management.

Appearing before the Committee of the Whole on March 27, 2023, the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, had insisted that the plan to use the Ghana Card as the sole registration document would be cost effective, deal with the issue of the multiplicity of identification cards and documents and thus “purge the voters’ roll of foreigners and minors”.

The Daily Graphic, just like many Ghanaians and some opinion leaders, find it a bit curious that the EC insisted on the use of the Ghana Card alone as a source document for registration onto the electoral roll.

We think that the challenges with the issuance of the cards can prevent a good number of eligible voters from exercising their franchise.

We support the House’s proposition that a person who applies for registration but cannot provide evidence of an identification card issued by the NIA because he or she has not been registered by the NIA or registered but has not been issued with the Ghana Card shall be required by the EC to produce a relative to give evidence of identification on oath, in accordance with the provisions of the Oath Act. 

In a situation where a person applied for registration as a voter but had no relative to provide evidence of identification on oath, the EC shall require two persons registered with the NIA and issued with the national identification card to identify that person under oath, in accordance with the provisions of the Oath Act, the House said.

Given the severe punishment one faced in vouching falsely for any person, the Daily Graphic strongly believes the guarantor system will discourage people from exploiting and abusing the system. Suffice it to say that the NIA itself uses the guarantor system for capturing people’s data.

The paper again finds it curious that a document such as the passport has been excluded as source document for voter registration. For every country, the passport is one’s main identification document.

Therefore, to help make Ghana’s electoral roll error-free, the Daily Graphic encourages the EC to heed Parliament’s recommendation, as that will go a long way to enhance the credibility of elections and the legitimacy of the elected.

The EC must not give any political party, politicians, civil society organisations and Ghanaians in general the grounds to put question marks on electoral processes.

It is true that the country’s democracy has attained a high degree of maturity after 30 years in the Fourth Republic, but that does not mean we should be complacent and close our eyes and ears to those good suggestions and constructive inputs into the CI.

This is important for the CI to garner the bi-partisan support it deserves, as well as the goodwill of every Ghanaian.