The National Peace Council has endorsed the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to make the Ghana Card the exclusive document for voter registration in future elections. 

This move by the EC, initially met with resistance from key stakeholders due to challenges in the issuance of Ghana Cards by the National Identification Authority (NIA), aims to streamline the registration process and address vulnerabilities in the current system.

After a closed-door meeting with the EC to discuss issues related to the upcoming elections, the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Dr. Ernest Adu Gyamfi, emphasised the drawbacks of the existing guarantor system. 

“The reality is that until we accept the Ghana Card or one system as our form of registration, the figures they gave us show that 63 percent of those who registered within this short period used the guarantor system, which is high. Ghana cards are 39 percent, so the whole system of busing people will continue,” Dr. Gyamfi explained.

He further elaborated on the complications caused by the guarantor system, highlighting issues of voter fraud and manipulation. 

“You bring people from a different constituency. If I think that this is my safe zone and I have enough votes, when they move people from the constituency, then you go and say, ‘Where’s your card, where do you live?’, somebody comes in and says, ‘I know him.’ How can you challenge those things?” Dr. Gyamfi questioned.

In a related development, EC Chairperson Jean Mensah reiterated the commission’s commitment to ensuring that all eligible inmates in Ghana’s prisons are registered. 

This initiative is part of a larger mop-up exercise scheduled from August 1 to August 3, 2024. 

“The registration for our citizens in the prison facilities in the country will take place from the 1st to the 3rd of August. The Commission intends to have a mop-up exercise in all the 268 district offices, including the newly created Guan constituencies,” Mr. Mensah stated.

She added: “As part of the mopping exercise, we intend to register citizens who are eligible in all prisons across the country, and we will work extensively with the Ghana Prisons Service on the number of inmates who qualify for registration.”