Deleted NHIS voters in Ho struggling to get guarantors

Persons whose names have been deleted from the voters register for using the National Health Insurance cards in the Ho Central and Ho West constituencies of the Volta region are having difficulty getting the required guarantors to aid their re-registration process.

In all, 1,016 and 1,140 names were deleted from register in both the Ho West and Ho Central constituencies respectively.

Since the start of the re-registration exercise on Monday, only 8 and 13 affected persons have successfully gone through the process as of 4pm on Tuesday, in the Ho West and Ho Central constituencies.

Checks by Starr News at the Ho Municipal office of the Electoral Commission, where the 10 days exercise is taking place for both constituencies revealed that some persons were unable to get their names back into the voters roll because of their inability to get the two guarantors to endorse their re-registration.

An affected teacher, said he spent hours in search of two existing voters to endorse his form, as he has neither a passport nor driving license to facilitate the process.

"It was really frustrating to get guarantors to assist in the re-registration. I'm told to bring known persons but I don't reside in Ho, meaning I have to travel back to my station at Abutia and bring the two guarantors, at whose cost?" the frustrated teacher, lamented to Starr news.

A retired public servant, who expressed similar sentiments said the EC should have decentralized the re-registration exercise to the electoral areas to enable affected persons and their guarantors have easy access to the process at minimal cost.

An agent of the NPP at the registration centre, Peter Kofi-Kuma, fears the situation coupled with the low publicity is likely to prevent affected persons from distant communities from getting their names back on the voters roll.