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The Electoral Commission is now conducting a limited voter registration exercise, and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has warned parents and guardians to avoid the urge to register their minor children.
On Tuesday, September 26, 2023, Dr. Bawumia warned that parents and children could face legal and other repercussions for signing the register before they are eligible to do so during visits to Registration Centers in the Greater Accra and Central Regions.
“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”, he warned.
Dr. Bawumia stressed the importance of having a credible and clean voter registration list for the 2024 general elections and beyond after suspending his statewide interaction with NPP Delegates on September 23, 2023.
“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.
“I would also like to thank officials of the EC for the great work they have done so far, despite the initial challenges,” he added.
In preparation for the District Level Elections on December 19, the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) started registering new voters on the electoral roll on Tuesday.
In contrast to the previous system, which involved limited registration exercises being conducted at the electoral areas, the Exercise, which is in conformity with Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution, will take place at the 268 District Offices of the Commission.
Ghanaians who have reached the voting age of 18 since the last registration in 2020 and those who are older than 18 but were unable to register during the last registration process will have 21 days to do so.
Following the rejection of the EC’s draft Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) by Parliament in April this year, the EC said it would adopt the existing Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I. 91) (1) as Amended, for the upcoming registration exercise.
The draft C.I. which was disapproved by Parliament recommended a continuous voters registration exercise and sought to make the Ghana card the sole identification document to establish an applicant’s citizenship.
The adoption of C.I. 91 for the upcoming registration exercise means that eligible voters can use either the Ghana Card or the Ghana Passport to establish their identity as Ghanaians.
In the absence of the two identification documents, applicants would be required to present two people who are already registered voters to vouch for their citizenship and age.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
