The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (E.C), Madam Jean Adukwei Mensa, has indicated that the Ghana Card will not be used to vote in 2024 and that it is only a requirement to register as a voter.
According to her, when one registers with the Ghana Card, the individual will be issued with a Voters Identification Card, which bears the person’s region code, electoral area and polling station, which the Ghana Card does not have.
“Mr Speaker, I wish to emphasise that the Ghana Card will not be used to vote in 2024. The Ghana Card is only a requirement to register as a voter. Once you present your Ghana Card and successfully register as a voter, you will be issued a Voter’s Identification Card, which bears the code of your region, district, electoral area and polling station.
The Ghana card does not have these features. It will not be used to vote in the 2024 General Elections,” she indicated in Parliament yesterday.
She made these comments whilst presenting a statement to Parliament on a Constitutional Instrument (C.I) she is seeking to lay before Parliament.
The Minority in Parliament, as well as a section of Ghanaians, have indicated their strong opposition to the EC’s decision of making the Ghana Card a sole identification document for voter registration, through the laying of the C.I.
This opposition culminated into Parliament inviting the EC chair to make a presentation on the C.I.
The EC chair further told the House that, making the Ghana Card a sole source of identification for the voters register is a proposal.
She said the proposal, when adopted, will help to deal with minors and foreigners who were able to register as voters through the guarantor system.
“The use of Ghana Card as a sole means of identification will prevent foreigners and minors from getting onto our voters register.”
Madam Jean Mensa noted that during the 2020 elections, the Commission expunged 40,000 minors and foreigners from the voters register, indicating that these people got onto the register through the guarantor system.
She described the system as not the best and stressed the need to use the Ghana Card as the sole identification card for registration.
Another significant feature about the C.I, which Madam Jean Mensa elucidated on, was the continuous registration of voters and an all year round registration of eligible voters at the district offices of the EC.
“It is different from the previous system where the voter’s registration was done for a limited period,” the EC chair indicated to Parliament.
She said that the advantage of the C.I is that there will be continuous registration that will allow potential voters to register at any time.
Aside the EC chair, the other persons who briefed the House on their preparedness towards election 2024 was the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the Finance Minister.
The NIA boss, Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah said of the 17,375,861people registered so far, 16,737,734 cards have been printed, of which 16,095,331 have been collected.
Prof Attafuah said 541,529 cards are unprinted due to some indebtedness of about US$100 million. He, however, said that US$80 million of that money has been cleared.
After the payment, Mr Attafuah said the unprinted cards could be delivered in 11 days and assured that “we have the technical and operational capacity to print the cards within time. We are ready to deliver on this important mandate.”
The Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, who spoke about government’s commitment in the area of finances, said “government was committed to a free, fair and transparent elections and would make the funds available to enhance the operations of the NIA and the EC.”
