Jean Mensa – EC Chairperson
The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced a new voter registration exercise as part of its preparations for the 2023 District Level Elections, which will begin on Tuesday, September 12, 2023 and end on Monday, October 2, 2023.
Chairperson of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, indicated that the Commission would rely on the existing Constitutional Instrument (C.I.), which has inherent issues, to conduct the registration exercise until Parliament approves the draft C.I. that eliminates the guarantor system.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra yesterday, the EC boss stated that relying on the guarantor system to identify who a citizen is was untenable given that Parliament has passed a Legislative Instrument stating that the Ghana Card will be the sole document to be relied on for purposes of identifying a citizen of Ghana.
“This leaves us with no option than to rely on the current C.I. with its inherent challenges to conduct the Voters’ Registration Exercise until such time that NIA would become fully operational,” she noted.
Registration Modalities
Mrs. Mensa explained that the new registration exercise would allow Ghanaians who have reached the voting age of 18 years since the last registration in 2020, as well as others who are older but were unable to register during the 2020 registration for various reasons, to do so.
According to her, the exercise will be held between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm each day, including Saturdays and Sundays, adding that the registration exercise will take place in all the 268 District Offices of the Commission, including the Guan District.
“In other words, each District Office will serve as a Registration Centre. The Commission’s Staff at the District i.e., District Electoral Officers, Assistant District Electoral Officers and their Secretaries will serve as the Registration Officials,” the EC Chairperson indicated further.
Requirements
She noted that requirements for the registration exercise remained the same as what pertains in the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I.91), (1) as amended.
“A person qualifies to register to vote if he/she is a citizen of Ghana, 18 years of age or above, of sound mind, resident or ordinarily resident in an electoral area, and has not already registered as a voter; or is not prohibited by any law in force from registering to vote.
Identification
In addition to the above, Mrs. Mensa stated that all applicants must provide proof of eligibility by presenting either a National Identification Card (Ghana Card) or a Ghana Passport, and that applicants who do not have any of the identification documents listed above must present two people who are already registered voters to vouch for their citizenship and age.
“Per law, a guarantor can guarantee for up to ten (10) eligible applicants. It is a criminal offence to guarantee for more than ten (10) applicants. As such persons who guarantee for more than ten (10) applicants will be prosecuted. It is also a criminal offence for a guarantor to guarantee for non-citizens or minors,” she pointed out.
She said the Commission would identify such persons and bring them up for prosecution, and called on the media to assist the Commission to educate the citizenry on this provision.
By Ernest Kofi Adu