The Minority in Parliament has said that the Electoral Commission (EC) has not provided enough grounds to remove the guarantor system from the voter registration process.
The purpose of the guarantor system is to prove one’s eligibility to be captured onto the voter register.
Madam Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the EC, told parliament on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, that the guarantor system will be eliminated per a proposed Constitutional Instrument(CI).
She said the guarantor system was prone to abuse.
Therefore, the CI proposes the Ghana Card as the sole identification document for the registration.
“The use of the Ghana Card as the sole means of identification will prevent foreigners and minors from getting onto our voters register,” Mrs Mensa added.
However, the Minority insists it is a deliberate ploy to deprive millions of Ghanaians of the opportunity to have their names on the electoral roll.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, March 1, the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, said, “For emphasis, the Electoral Commission was pushed to provide evidence to back the claim of so-called abuse of the guarantor system, the EC indicated that in the 2019 voter registration for instance, only 15,474 people, representing just 0.09% of the total of 17,029,981 registered voters, were challenged on the basis of the guarantor system.”
“This statistic is a very insignificant and immaterial percentage to warrant a total abrogation of the guarantor system, particularly at a time many do not have the Ghana Card.”
Dr Ato Forson added that the National Identity Register Regulations 2012 (LI 2111) make room for the guarantor system in acquiring a Ghana Card.
The guarantor system, he said, constituted about 40% of Ghana Card registrations.
“We hold the view that the time-tested guarantor system must be maintained in our voter registration process, and this position is absolutely non-negotiable,” the Minority Leader stressed.