The decision by the electoral body to abolish the guarantor system in the upcoming continuous registration exercise has been met with fierce opposition.
Especially, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) posits that such a move will disenfranchise many people who may not have the base document to register.
The Electoral Commission (EC) intends to use the Ghana card as the only base document which will be acceptable for registration.
General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, in his reaction to the development on Citi TV’s Eyewitness News, insisted that the is an attempt by the EC to disenfranchise people from registering.
“If the EC is going to use a system to disenfranchise about three million Ghanaians [who do not have Ghana card], does that result in a free, fair and transparent elections because right from the word go, those people have been cut off. The intention is to disenfranchise NDC people so they [NPP] win the elections that is why they are claiming to break the eight”, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah lamented.
However, the political scientist at the University of Ghana, Prof. Ransford Gyampo disagreed with the position of the NDC while accepting the decision of the Electoral Commission as one that will cut out the abuse of the guarantor system.
“This is a step in the right direction to abolish the guarantor system The idea of a consolidated national ID card is a great thing and if we are going to have that, it doesn’t make sense to have the abused guarantor system. So I don’t think that, the EC is too wrong with that position”, Prof. Gyampo said on Eyewitness News.
Mr. Gyampo advised the Electoral commission and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) resolve any misunderstanding peacefully.
“The EC would have to be real and appreciate the kind of suspicion that the opposition has. There should be trust and genuine dialogue with the opposition with the view of ensuring that all suspicions and fears are cleared”, he suggested.
source: theGhanaianvoice.com
