Minority rejects Ghana Card as sole document for voter registration

The Minority in Parliament is standing its ground of rejecting the Ghana Card as the sole document for the registration of voters onto Ghana’s electoral roll.

It said it was untenable for the Electoral Commission (EC) to eliminate the use of the guarantor system as a source of eligibility to be registered as a voter.

At a press conference in Parliament House yesterday, Wednesday, to react to the presentation by the Electoral Commissioner, Jean Mensa, on the decision by the EC to make the Ghana Card the sole base document for the registration of voters, the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, said the exercise would rather disenfranchise the vast majority of Ghanaians.

C.I. counterproductive

Dr Forson said there was nothing productive in the new Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) - the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Instrument, 2022 - in its current state for it to be laid before Parliament.

Further advancing arguments for the use of the guarantor system, Dr Forson said: “We hold the view that the time-tested guarantor system must be maintained in our voter registration process and this position is absolutely non-negotiable.” 

“Common sense should tell any objective mind that a source document for the Ghana Card must be a source document for the Voter ID Card and vice versa,” he added.

The Minority, he said, held the view that the government should make funds available to the National Identification Authority (NIA) to pay its indebtedness of GH¢1.5 billion ($117 million) to the private partner which had locked up the Ghana cards in bonded warehouses.

Action

Dr Forson said the Minority would in the coming days, collaborate with their mother party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to hold a major forum on the subject to further explain the issues for Ghanaians to understand. 

He said given the critical nature of the issue at stake and the potential of the C.I to undermine the country's democracy and, thereby, disturb the peace and security of the country, the Minority group would engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including the country’s development partners, faith-based organisations, traditional authorities and civil society organisations to get them to appreciate the issues.

Rights

Quoting Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution which states, “Every citizen of Ghana of 18 years or above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda,” Dr Forson said what the EC’s proposed C.I sought to do was to restrict the realisation of the rights of Ghanaians.

"It is important to remind the Electoral Commission that it is enjoined by the constitution to advance the right to vote and not introduce any law that seeks to curtail same," Dr Forson said.

NIA admission

The Minority Leader stated that the NIA admitted on the floor of the House that the issuance of the Ghana Card was on-going process and, therefore, could not be completed at any point in time. 

"Therefore, making the Ghana Card the sole requirement for voter registration cannot be accepted as it will deny millions of Ghanaians their right to register and vote,” he said.

Dr Forson said asking potential voters to travel to EC district offices to be enrolled onto the register could be discouraging and financially challenging.

He, therefore, urged the EC to use the polling stations for the continual registration.

He further indicated that limiting the continual registration to only the EC district offices would create problems for voters in identifying polling stations on the day of election.