The Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance For Christian Advocacy Africa, Rev. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong has raised red flags about a rising spate of hired guarantors for potential registrants in the new voters’ register.
The Christian group comprising some 100 pastors from various denominations and accredited by the Electoral Commission (EC) to monitor the registration process, said they observed that people were paying others to guarantee for them to be registered in the new electoral roll.
“Some of the registrants come with Ghana Cards and others with their passports. Those without the required documents come with guarantors. But it seems some registrants look for guarantors at the polling stations and that is producing guarantor contractors. There are people at the stations who, when people need them, they just go with them, I don’t know the details of the contract whether they pay them when they need them. We get the impression they are hired guarantors,” Rev. Opuni-Frimpong told online portal Ghanaweb in an interview.
Rev. Opuni-Frimpong, who is also a member of the EC’s Eminent Advisory Committee expressed concern about the growing rate of violence being perpetrated by political actors in the registration exercise.
These observations are coming after the EC had won a legal battle to compile a new voters’ register without recourse to those who have previously registered.
As part of primary documents needed to register for new voter identification, the EC recommends only holders of the Ghanaian passport of the Ghanaian ID card. Those without these two fundamental identification documents can only get their names in the register if a confirmed voter guarantees for them.
Not even the previous voters’ ID cards are accepted for registering in the new roll.