The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has passionately appealed to the Speaker of Parliament to bar the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana and the National Identification Authority (NIA) from introducing new legislation that will disenfranchise a cross-section of the Ghanaian voting public.
According to the NDC lawmaker, the EC and the NIA are currently broke, thereby affecting their goal of logistics management.
This means that the election management body and the NIA are financially handicapped to buy equipment and/or machinery to effectively carry out their mandate.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Chronicle on Friday, December 9, 2022 Mr. Buah contended that the EC and the NIA that intend to team up to conduct the 2024 general elections should first consider meeting their goals of ensuring that all Ghanaians who qualify to vote have been issued with the Ghana Card
“The EC intends to introduce legislation that basically says that there will be no guarantors during the registration of a new voter card. The only mode to identify you as a Ghanaian is the Ghana Card.
“But the danger for us in the midst of all these is that a lot of people are going to be handicapped. The NIA is handicapped in a lot of ways. Their systems are down in a lot of districts”, he noted.
The EC and the NIA intend to team up to conduct the 2024 General Elections.While the EC is the only body with the mandate to manage the conduct of all public elections and referenda, as well as handle all matters directly related to the conduct of elections in the country, the NIA on the other hand is the body mandated to register all Ghanaians and legal and permanent residents, foreign nationals six years and above under the National Identification System (NIS), create a national database or register, issue them with National Identity Cards (Ghanacards) and manage the use of the database.
The NIA is also mandated to establish a National Data Center and manage a national database, set up a system to collect, process, store, retrieve, and disseminate personal data on the population (Ghanaian citizens – both resident and non-resident, and legally and permanently resident foreign nationals), ensure the accuracy, integrity, and security of such data, and to issue and promote the use of national identity cards in Ghana.
It is also to make data in its custody available to persons or institutions authorized by law to access the data.
The EC in September 2022 served notice that it will go ahead to use the Ghana Card for the compilation of the new voter’s register, arguing that Ghana is the most authentic means of identifying Ghanaians, hence, its decision to use it in compiling a new database of voters.
Director of Operations of the EC, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, interacting with Accra-based Joy FM, said the use of the Ghana Card will do away with the pockets of confusion associated with registration exercises across the country.
“Everybody who has been following registrations in Ghana will realize that the tensions that crop up at the registrations centers are related to who a Ghanaian is and who is faking. Basically, you’ll have the political parties, especially, NPP and NDC at each other’s throats [about who a Ghanaian is]. We believe that if you have a Ghana Card, that issue will be addressed,” Dr. Quaicoe was quoted as saying by myjoyonline.com.
The NIA has as of July, 2022, registered 16,969,034 persons and printed about 16,535,623 cards out of which 15,702,719 cards have been issued. That means nearly half of Ghana’s population is without the Ghana Card.
However, Dr. Quaicoe speaking on a large number of Ghanaians without Ghana Cards stated that such citizens have up to October 2024 to get their cards, insisting that no one will be disenfranchised.
His comments have since provoked a response from the main opposition NDC, with its leadership in Parliament pledging to resist any attempt by the election management body and the NIA.
It has since signalled that if care is not taken and allowed the EC and NIA team up to use the Ghana Card as the only mode of identifying the voting public, a lot of people will be disenfranchised.
Armah-Kofi Buah, commenting further, noted that the situation regarding the financial incapability of the NIA is dire in a lot of districts, since they are unable to register and issue people with the Ghana card.
Recounting the situation in the Ellembelle District, Mr. Buah said “anybody who works in that office is not able to do any registration because they don’t have the machines. Even those that have registered, their ID cards were not issued on the same day. Now the NIA at the District is telling me that they have over 6,000 ID cards that they can’t even identify the people.
“It requires them to go into the communities with their machines to identify them. They don’t even have cars to go around. Logistically, they are broke. I had to give them GHS3000 to do that exercise. We met them in Parliament and they told us that they have budgetary and logistical problems,” he noted.
He added: “If the EC is going to require the NIA to give people ID cards, they should ensure that the right thing is done. Other than that if you bring a law that says that if you don’t have Ghana Card you can’t register and vote, you are really creating a very dangerous problem for us.”
He said it is important that every MP takes a keen interest in the matter and ensure that the EC does the right thing before thinking of introducing any legislation to regulate the 2024 general elections.
He expressed similar sentiments on the floor of Parliament at a sitting on Friday with the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, ruling that the EC will not be allowed to introduce any legislation until all outstanding issues have been dealt with and joint understanding reached on all those logistical issues and that Ghanaians are not going to be disenfranchised.
By Stephen Odoi-Larbi
