The National coordinator of the Coalition of the Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), Albert Arhin, has bemoaned the guarantor system of registration for persons eligible for voting.
He has described it as abusive, indicating that political parties come to registration centres with people and guarantee for them without knowing them.
According to him, the 63 per cent of those who registered at the just ended limited voter registration used the guarantor system, a model he says the political parties capitalises to abuse the system.
Mr. Arhin, whilst speaking on Hot Issues with Keminni Amanor on TV3 Sunday, June 02, 2024, commended the Commission for how it responded to the challenges it encountered in the first two days but criticised the guarantor system.
“We are still having a lot of people doing the guarantor system of registration. From the time that I was at the EC till date, I still don’t consider that system as a good one because the [[political] parties take advantage of it. And you only see people going round, for example, in a vehicle, they get to a registration centre, they get down, they see people, they may be their own people and then, they tell them ‘these people are here, they need someone to guarantee for them’ and then they will do it. Whether they are their cousins, their nieces or whatever it is, is not anything they even bother.
“It’s abusive and the parties are happy because it gives them the opportunity to bring in people. So, I was happy when the EC said they were going to use the ID issued by the NIA to do this exercise.
“And if you listen to what happened yesterday at the IPAC, 63 per cent of the people used the guarantor system. Which I think is too high,” Mr. Arhin lamented.
He questioned the National Identification Authority (NIA) for the 17 million Ghana Cards it says it has issued, as to whether people are refusing to go for them after the registration.
“Why is it that, till date, people are still not using those cards to go and do it?” he questioned.
The EC ended its 2024 limited voter registration exercise on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
The exercise which span for 21 days, commenced on Tuesday, May 7, and was extended by two days to make up for the challenges that fraught the first two days of the process.
The Commission targeted 623,000 first-time voters to be enrolled in the national album ahead of the 2024 election.
Despite the initial technical challenges that marred the exercise on the first two days and on the last day, political party agents expressed satisfaction with the process, stating that they met their targets.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Adukwei Mensa, has emphasised the importance of compiling a credible voter register as election 2024 beckons.
She said that without a credible voter register, there can never be transparent elections.
Addressing a news conference in Accra on Monday, May 6, ahead of the 2024 limited voter registration exercise, Jean Mensa said the EC was poised to deliver a credible and transparent election.
“As a commission, we remain poised and ready to deliver credible, transparent and peaceful elections and electoral processes starting with the 2024 registration exercise.
“It is well known that the voters register is a bedrock of an election. Without a credible and accurate voter register, there can be no transparent and acceptable elections,” she stated
