EC submits instrument on voter registration to Parliament

The Electoral Commission (EC) has submitted to Parliament a Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) which, if passed, shall make the Ghana Card and the Ghanaian passport the only legal identification documents for registering people in the new biometric voters register.

Per the instrument, those who do not have either of the national identification documents can, however, go ahead to register, on condition that they can be backed by two persons who have already registered.

The C.I., which will amend the relevant law or C.I. 91, was signed by the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa, and laid before the House by the Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, before the House could rise late last Monday.

Per the C.I. put before the legislative body: “A person who applies for registration as a voter shall provide, as evidence of identification, one of the following: a passport, a national identification card or one voter registration identification guarantee form as set out in Form One of the schedule that has been completed and signed by two registered voters.”

It said a registered voter “shall not guarantee the identity of more than 10 persons”.

Consideration

The instrument is currently under consideration by the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, chaired by a former Deputy
Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Ayine, and is expected to mature in 21 days.

If Parliament approves the amendment, it will mean that other forms of national identification, such as the existing voter ID card, birth certificate and other national documents, cannot be used in registering for the new voter ID card.

A number of parliamentarians (MPs) the Daily Graphic spoke to expressed divergent views on the proposal in the C.I.

Disenfranchising Ghanaians

The MP for Korle Klottey, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, said a check of the database of the Ghana Card showed that many people were registered in the field offline, but their details had, as of now, not made it online.

She said if the EC insisted on using the Ghana Card as one of the means to register Ghanaians, it would disenfranchise many Ghanaians.

“A lot of people who queued and were registered during offline registration have not still got their cards. On further probing, we discovered that for whatever reason, their details never made it to the central database system and so they are not in the system of the EC,” she said.

Proceeding to court

The MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, Mr Cassiel Ato Hayford, argued that there was no motivation for the EC to come out with such a concept (proposal), pointing out that it was not up to the commission to decide who was a citizen and who qualified to vote.

“It is a constitutional matter. The Ghanaian passport and the Ghana Card are not the only way for somebody to vote in this country,” he said, hinting that he would proceed to court to stop the proposal, since the EC’s action was in violation of the Constitution.

Credible elections

The MP for Adansi Asokwa, Mr K. T. Hammond, said it was the decision of the nation, and not the EC, that a new and
credible voters register be compiled.

“The requirement of a national passport and the Ghana Card establishes your identity as a Ghanaian. If somebody should say you are a Ghanaian, somebody must be able to establish your identity through your passport and the Ghana Card.

“Besides, if one does not have the passport and the Ghana Card, two or three persons could guarantee one’s citizenship,” he said.

Register for card

The legislator for Abuakwa South, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, said the move by the EC to introduce an amendment to C.I. 91 through Parliament was consistent with good governance that would not only help the citizenry but also fine-tune record-keeping of Ghanaians, since every information on Ghanaians would be captured on the card.

He said registration for the Ghana Card was still ongoing and Ghanaians must take advantage of the exercise to obtain the card.

“We are not doing anything that is unusual. We are doing something of a national character and people should show seriousness,” he said.

New date

In a related development, the EC has stated that a new date for the compilation of a new voters register will be announced.

It explained that the date rescheduling for the compilation of the new voters register was in view of the ban imposed on public gatherings by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, stressing that “a new date for the registration will be announced in due course”.

Cancellation

It, therefore, urged the electorate to disregard information that the compilation of the new voters register had been cancelled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 in the country, it said in a statement signed by its acting Director of Public Affairs, Mrs Sylvia Annor.

“The commission wishes to state that the compilation of the new voters register has not been cancelled. Plans are far advanced for the successful take-off of the registration process,” it said.