Voter registration: Guarantor system more prevalent in Dzorwulu electoral area

The guarantor system is being adopted by many registrants in some registration centres in the Dzorwulu electoral area of the Ayawso West Constituency.

The Supreme Court of Ghana, in a ruling, granted the Electoral Commission (EC) permission to allow applicants to use either a valid Ghanaian passport or a national identification card issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA) to acquire a Voter Identification Card ahead of the 2020 polls.

Upon GhanaWeb’s visit to some registration centers in the Dzorwulu area on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, some registration officers told the news team majority of the applicants have so far used the Guarantor system as a proof of eligibility.

A registration officer, Patricia Agyepong, speaking to the news team at the Dzorwulu JHS 3 centre explained not many applicants in the Dzorwulu area had ‘Ghana Cards’ or passports which has rendered the guarantor system more effective for the area.

“So far the registration process has been good just that the only challenges we are experiencing is with the Guarantor system. Not many residents here have acquired their ‘Ghana Cards’ and not many of them travel either so there are less people with passports and so we have many people guarantee for others and that makes the work a bit difficult”

Ms. Agyepong added that all equipment at the centres are working efficiently along with the adherence and observation to COVID-19 safety protocols among applicants.

“We’ve not had a reduction in our numbers in terms of registration so far and it has been good for us because almost every day we exceed our expectations in terms of the number of applicants we register,” she added.

Another registration officer at the Dzorwulu Primary School centre on his part called for strict adherence to all COVID-19 safety protocols by applicants, to expedite a smooth and safe registration process.

The compilation of a new voter's register by the Electoral Commission (EC) commenced on June 30, 2020 across all the districts in the country.

The Commission says it has so far captured over 4.4 million eligible citizens in the first two weeks of the registration exercise.

The exercise, which is expected to last for 38 days, is projected to capture the biometric data of about 15 million Ghanaians eligible to vote ahead of the 2020 December 7 general elections.