The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have distanced themselves from allegations made by the Electoral Commission (EC) suggesting that political parties are encouraging minors and foreigners to participate in the limited voter registration exercise.

During a press conference held on Thursday, the EC expressed concerns about the involvement of minors and foreigners in the registration process, noting that some members of political parties appeared to be facilitating this through the guarantor system.

Dr. Bossman Asare, a Deputy Chairperson of the EC, emphasized their commitment to establishing a credible voter register. He pointed out that including the names of unqualified individuals could compromise the integrity of the register.

However, on the Newsnight program on Joy FM, Mustapha Gbande, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, countered these allegations. He revealed that many individuals had faced challenges during registration due to suspicions raised by political party agents. These agents were actively challenging registrants to provide documentation to verify their age, part of a concerted effort to ensure that only eligible voters were registered.

“I think that is an alarmist assessment of the issues…You don't go accusing political parties when your own officials are the ones administering the process. You have seen NPP people challenging NDC people they suspect and NDC people challenging them. So how do you come out to accuse political parties when the system is running naturally?” he quizzed.

“NDC dissociate itself from that accusation. We are not bussed minors. We have no involvement in bussing minors. We believe that the procedure, when you walk to the registration centre, you will be taken through a process and that process is by law enough to be able to detect,” Mr Gbande said.

The Deputy General Secretary of the NDC expressed his disappointment in the Electoral Commission's decision to exploit the issue as an opportunity to criticize the guarantor system, which allows individuals to vouch for eligible voters who do not possess Ghana Cards, and their attempts to determine people's ages based on photographs.

He emphasized that this very system is utilized by the National Identification Authority to grant Ghana Cards to a significant number of Ghanaian citizens.

On the other hand, Haruna Mohammed, a Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, not only refuted the allegations but also asserted that the NDC was actually supportive of the registration of minors. He pointed to instances where NDC agents were reportedly advocating for the registration of a 14-year-old as evidence of their endorsement of such practices.

“As a political party we (NPP) are law-abiding we have stated this fact; we are not going to accept the issue of registration of minors. This is clearly stated in Ghana's constitution that if you don't attain the age of 18 you should not be registered and we are going to support this particular process"

"I am happy that the electoral commission is talking about a number of people being challenged I hope that these minors will be the chunk of that,” Mr Mohammed added.

Additionally, he voiced his support for the Electoral Commission's call to discontinue the guarantor system, citing it as one of the factors contributing to the sluggishness of the registration process and other associated challenges.

Mr. Mohammed argued that implementing a more robust system, which exclusively relies on Ghana Cards, would be beneficial in guaranteeing the establishment of a pristine voter register.