The Chairperson of the Electoral Commissioner (EC) of Ghana, Jean Mensa, has disclosed that her outfit has put measures in place to prevent unqualified persons from acquiring voter identification cards in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
According to her, the EC has been made aware that some persons have initiated moves to get unqualified persons onto the register.
Speaking at a conference on Monday, September 18, 2023, she urged Ghanaians and EC officials to challenge the registration of such persons.
“While we are doing everything in our power to capture every eligible voter, we are doing everything in our power to ensure that ineligible voters do not get onto our register. We are reliably informed about attempts by some persons to get minors on the register, and we encourage the citizens who observe these illegal practices to challenge them.
“We have a recourse in the law that allows citizens who qualify to vote, who qualify to register as voters to challenge anyone who in their view is a minor or a foreigner. Additionally, we have charged our district electoral officers, who are serving as registration officers to challenge the registration of these minors and foreigners.”
She added that the EC’s insistence on using the Ghana Card as a document for verifying a person’s citizenship was to prevent minors from getting onto the register.
“We have received reports of the arrest of the youth organizer of one of the political parties in the Shai-Osudoku constituency. It is alleged that he was facilitating the registration of minors. We are also aware of other cases of attempts by other persons who should know better how to register minors.
“It is for this very reason that we felt it necessary to limit the documentation for identification of a person’s citizenship and age to the Ghana Card. Indeed, our experience with the 2020 registration exercise revealed the attempts by minors and foreigners to illegally get on our row, and it took a great deal of time, effort and money to expunge them from our register.”
