#2024Elections: Don't scrap guarantor system - Afari-Gyan advises Electoral Commission

 

A former Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, has criticized the Electoral Commission for its move to discard the guarantor system for the continuous voter registration exercise.

According to Mr. Afari-Gyan, the contention of the EC that the guarantor system was not robust and, therefore, the Ghana Card should be the sole means of registration was untenable.

He asserted that, as far as the National Identification Authority (NIA) allowed the guarantor regime in the registration for the Ghana Card, nothing prevented the EC from doing same for the voter registration exercise and making that system more robust as it wanted it.

“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 queried.

However, according to the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, the use of the Ghana Card as the sole registration document would ensure that only eligible Ghanaians are registered as voters. Adding that, such a move, would give the country a credible voter roll and enhance its electoral process.

The EC boss said her outfit jettisoned the guarantor system because it was susceptible to abuse, which affected the credibility of the electoral roll.

“The challenges with the guarantor system are that it opens the door for registered voters or guarantor contractors to guarantee/vouch for persons who are less than 18 years and it allows the guarantors to vouch for foreigners. Such unqualified persons used the door of the guarantor system to try to get onto the register.

“Truth be told, the guarantor system was not the best under any circumstances, but we did not have other options, since a significant number of people did not possess the Ghana Card at the time. Even, then, we had 10 million Ghanaians using the Ghana Card to back their citizenship at the time of registration,” she said.

It appears Dr Afari-Gyan is not the only person to criticise the EC over the proposed CI. The CI has also faced a backlash from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), a civil society organisation, especially concerning the decision by the EC to throw away the guarantor system, which hitherto allowed a registered voter to vouch for the citizenship of another person seeking to register.