The National Identification Authority (NIA) boss, Prof Kenneth Attafuah, has deflated the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) rants that the Ghana Card cannot be used for the next general elections in 2024.
According to the NDC, a considerable number of citizens do not have their Ghana Cards. Thus, limiting the proof of nationality to only the Ghana Card may disenfranchise many.
Prof Attafuah in a text message to the host of Kokrokoo on Peace FM yesterday, defended the decision of the Electoral Commission (EC) to rely on the Ghana Card for the next elections.
In the text, he wrote that, “EC has every reasonable basis to trust the registration arrangement instituted by NIA and to rely on the ultra-modern, dual-interface biometric smart Ghana card and the robust National Identity Register created by NIA.”
He went ahead to state that, the decision by the EC is in the public interest and reflects sound constitutionalism and fiscal prudence, and called on Ghanaians to support right-thinking, lawfulness and progress in our country.
STATISTICS
Prof. Attafuah gave some statistics on the registration and issuance of Ghana Cards to Ghanaians and whether the institution would be able to meet its target by the end of the year.
He informed that the NIA has already conducted a nationwide mass registration exercise, a nationwide mop-up exercise and a nationwide special card issuance blitz.
He added that the NIA has set-up offices in 16 regions and 276 Operational Districts since November 2021.
He continued that the NIA has registered over 17.3 million Ghanaians aged 15 and over and added that, “the remaining 2 million in that population cohort can be registered before the end of the year 2022, through the NIA offices and additional registration points.”
NDC STANCE
Some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have expressed their resentment towards the decision of the Electoral Commission to use the Ghana Card as the sole identification for registering new voters. Some NDC Members of Parliament have also vowed to resist the EC’s new CI when it is brought before the House.
As if that was not enough, the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has also reiterated the party’s position on the Ghana Card being the only required document for the voter registration exercise.
The NDC chief scribe stated in an exclusive interview on Joy News PM Express on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 that the party will never support such a decision.
He claimed that the party was not consulted and argued that if the decision is allowed, millions of Ghanaians who still do not have the Ghana card may be disenfranchised.
“NDC was not consulted on the issue. All we got was a legal draft and were asked to send a representative to the legal committee that will work on the draft.
“We are opposed to the fact that it has not been a complete process because not every Ghanaian has a Ghana card. If we all had, we would have supported it,” he said.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia stressed “We are urging the committee to throw it (the EC’s CI) out or add another document to it.”
The EC has presented to Parliament a draft Constitutional Instrument (CI) titled Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2021 to regulate voter registration.
The EC’s bill, if passed into law by Parliament, will allow the Ghana Card as the sole requirement for eligible voters to register.
The decision to make the Ghana card the sole requirement for voter registration, according to the EC, was taken at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting with representatives of all political parties, in which the NDC was represented.
