The Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament has thrown its weight behind the Electoral Commission’s (EC) proposed Constitutional Instrument (CI) seeking to make the National Identification Card (Ghana card) the sole document of citizenship for voter registration.
The Caucus argued the use of the Ghana Card as the only proof of citizenship will sanitize and purify the Commission’s system and free Ghana’s electoral roll of all foreigners.
The side also accused the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority of mixing the facts and confusing Ghanaians because they do not understand the issues or are doing so out of sheer mischief.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament on Thursday, March 2 in response to the Minority who have declared their absolute opposition to the proposed C.I., Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained a claim by the Minority that there is a backlog of 3.5 million unregistered people is false.
According to him, what is true is the Commission has registered 17,375,861 million Ghanaians out of which 642,403 have failed show collect their cards.
He indicated, however, that there are 541,529 out of the registrants whose cards have not yet been printed.
“The cards that have not been printed, the 541, 529, form part of the 3.5 million blank cards that are held in the bonded warehouse. If you take that away from it, then you have about three million outstanding.”
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu indicated that the 2020 population and housing census indicates by 2024, the total number of Ghanaians that will qualify to vote (18+) will be 19 million.
According to him, this means the Commission will have to register just about two million people but stressed that some of them are already in the system as the number registered already embraces 15 year-plus would turn 18 before 2024.
The Electoral Commission and the NIA on Tuesday briefed Parliament on the proposed C.I and their preparedness to carry out the registration for the impending 2024 elections.
EC Commissioner Jean Mensa explained the use of the Ghana card as the sole means of identification will prevent foreigners and minors from getting onto the voters register and also prevent unqualified persons from influencing Ghana’s elections.
She indicated that the C.I. will promote continuous registration of voters and advocate for year-round registration of eligible voters at district offices.
This, she said, will ease the burden of limited voter registration exercise and enable persons who turn 18 years old to get registered at the commission’s offices without waiting for a mass registration exercise.
The Minority has, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the responses of the EC and insisted going ahead to pass the CI with some provisions will disenfranchise many eligible voters from registering and voting in 2024.
The Majority leader argued that the use of the Ghana card has gained currency among many institutions that have recognized the integrity of the system of the NIA and have resorted to the use of the Ghana card.
These institutions, he said, include the GRA, Bank of Ghana, commercial banks, and saving and loans schemes among many others, and questioned whether the EC could not also fall on the NIA for credible identification cards to compile the voters register.
He argued former President John Dramani Mahama vouched for the integrity of the NIA after he registered and received his Ghana card and wondered why the Minority is shying away from the use of the card as the sole document for voter registration.