The Electoral Commission (EC) has asked parents to advise their children under the age of 18 to avoid the ongoing limited voter registration exercise or face the consequences of the law.
“We would like to use this opportunity to entreat parents to advise their wards who are less than 18 years not to be coerced by anyone to assume a new age and register as a voter because they may find themselves on the wrong side of the law,” it said.
Dr Eric Bossman Asare, EC Deputy Chairperson in charge of Corporate Services, gave the warning at a press conference in Accra on Thursday to give an update on the voter registration exercise.
He said that the Commission had received photographic and video evidence of minors, foreigners, and other unqualified persons participating in the registration exercise under the guise of the guarantor system.
He warned that anyone caught in such an act would face the full force of the law.
“We have noticed that minors and foreigners have taken advantage of the guarantor system with the support of some members of political parties to take part in the voter’s registration exercise,” he said.
The EC begun the Limited Voters Registration exercise on September 12, 2023, to enable Ghanaians over the age of 18 register to vote in the next District Assembly elections.
Eligible voters may use their Ghana card or passport as proof of identity, and if neither is available, applicants must present two registered voters to guarantee for them.
Dr. Asare also political parties to refrain from pushing ineligible people to register.
He stated that instead of engaging in such practices, political parties should instead help the EC to establish a credible voters’ roll, since they stood to benefit from the register.
“Political party officials and members are also entreated to stop the practice of persuading people who are unqualified and ineligible such as minors from taking part in the registration exercise.
“As our key stakeholders we expect the political parties to support us to ensure that the voters register is credible because if there are people who will benefit from a credible voters register, we strongly believe that the political parties will be one of the main beneficiaries,” he said.
Dr. Asare noted that the guarantor system had outlived its usefulness owing to abuse over time.
He said it was past time to develop a procedure that would ensure each applicant was registered on their own merits rather than the guarantor system.
Dr. Asare has thus urged political parties, civil society organizations, the media, and all stakeholders in the electoral process to support the proposed Constitutional Instrument (CI) that would make the Ghana card the sole identification card for registration.
“The electoral commission believes that the guarantor system has outlived its usefulness, and we are convinced that the time is right for a system that every registrant is identified on its or her own merit rather than another person vouching for the age and nationality of that person.
“We believe this must stop and the parties, the media, CSOs, all of us must support the EC to ensure the laying and the passage of the CI,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Commission reported that 673,276 people have registered, out of 700,000 projected by October 2, 2023.
Dr Bossman Asare was optimistic that the Commission would be able to meet its projected target because more kits had been distributed to the various registration centres supplement existing ones.
GNA