Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia interacting with EC officials
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has advised parents whose children have not attained the voting age of 18 to refrain from registering them.
The Electoral Commission (EC) began the 2023 voter registration exercise on September 12, 2023, and it is scheduled to end on Monday, October 2, 2023.
The registration, which is currently underway in all of the commission’s 268 district offices, is intended for people who have reached the age of 18 since the last registration period and those who were unable to register in 2020.
They must register at the district office where they live using either their Ghana Card or their Ghana Passport.
Dr. Bawumia, a flagbearer aspirant for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), warned that allowing underage children to register will have serious consequences for such children, and has urged parents and guardians to avoid the temptation.
Dr. Bawumia stated yesterday during visits to registration centres in the Greater Accra and Central regions to monitor the Electoral Commission’s current limited registration exercise that the infraction has legal and social repercussions.
“We have received reports from across the country of attempts to register minors in the ongoing Limited Registration Exercise. This is very worrying.
“Apart from the illegality of such efforts, it also amounts to endangering the lives of these children, because if they enter the national records with the wrong age, it will have an effect on them throughout their lives.
“It means, for instance, that they will be going on retirement before their actual age. They may not benefit from policies or programmes specifically designed to meet the needs of the youth. And it may have other unforeseen consequences,” Dr. Bawumia warned.
He also urged potential voters who have not yet registered to do so in order to exercise their right to vote during elections.
Recently, Dr. Bawumia put an end to his nationwide campaign for the NPP flagbearership so that the party could fully focus on the registration exercise.
He underscored the importance of a clean and credible voter register for the 2024 general election and beyond, adding, “The Constitution guarantees every Ghanaian of the right age and sound mind the right to vote.”
“I would therefore like to urge all stakeholders – parents, guardians, new registrants, parties – to cooperate with officials of the Electoral Commission to have a smooth and incident-free exercise to produce a register we can all be proud of,” he asserted.
He thanked EC personnel for the outstanding work they have done so far, despite the initial hurdles.
By Ernest Kofi Adu