The Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, has expressed reservations with the Electoral Commission’s plan to jettison the guarantor system as it adopts the Ghana Card as the only source document for continuous voter registration.
Speaking on The Big Issue, Mr. Ayariga noted that the National Identification Register also had a guarantor system used by persons trying to get a Ghana Card.
He noted that he was part of a Special Budget committee meeting which welcomed the representatives from the EC to discuss the proposed legislative amendments.
“It appeared to me at that meeting that they didn’t know because the original National Identification Register Act of 2008 did not provide for a guarantor system. But in 2017, they came back to Parliament for an amendment.”
“So I told her [Electoral Commission Chair, Jean Mensa] that if it wasn’t a reasonable arrangement, the NIA would not have come to Parliament for an amendment of their law to embrace the guarantee system.”
He thus said the EC should focus on safeguarding the guarantor system it already has in place.
“I basically think that they should reconsider that,” Mr. Ayariga added.
The new Constitutional Instrument that could enforce the proposed change of making the Ghana Card the sole form of identification is in Parliament and has been referred to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament.