The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana would have no difficulty registering voters for the conduct of the November 7 general elections and subsequent polls with the coming into force of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I. 91) today.
That means the new C.I. 91 has matured after going through the twenty-one sitting days in Parliament as required by law. It was laid before Parliament on Friday, February 12, 2016.
The EC had initially planned a limited voters’ registration in March this year but due to the absence of a constitutional documentation to back the exercise, had to postpone it to April by which time the law regulating it would have matured.
The C.I. 91 seeks to enact a new legislation for the registration of voters to address some anomalies that occurred during the registration of voters for the 2012 general elections and revoke the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2012 (C.I. 72).
The new C.I. therefore provides for the grounds for qualifications for registration of every citizen of Ghana of eighteen years and above and of sound mind the right to vote and be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda.
Under the new C.I. 91, a person who applies for registration as a voter shall provide as evidence of identification either;
(a) A passport
(b) A driver’s license
(c) A national identification card or
(d) An existing voter identification card
The National Health Insurance card as a form of identification has been omitted from C.I.91 following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Abu Ramadan & Another v. the Electoral Commission.
The Regulation which indicates that a person needs to have one Voter’s Registration Identification Guarantee Form, as evidence of identification if that person is unable to produce any of the required forms of identification for registration as captured in C.I. 72 was maintained in the new C.I.92.
A registered voter shall however, not guarantee the identity of more than five persons and is required to indicate the relationship the guarantor has with the applicant as well as solemnly swear or affirm that the applicant is qualified to register as a voter.
A report of the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, states that the Electoral Commission could not proffer the reasoning behind one individual acting as a guarantor for a maximum of five applicants who cannot provide any evidence of identification for registration.
“The Committee was divided on the basis of the guarantee and the number of applicants one person can guarantee”, the report stated.
Motion for the adoption of the Committee’s report is expected to be moved by the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. O. B. Amoah, MP for Akuapem South, this morning.
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