The People’s National Convention (PNC) has said it supports the use of the Ghana Card as the sole identification for the continuous voter registration.
Unlike the previous requirements, which include the passport and guarantor system, the PNC was sure that the use of the Ghana Card would serve as a screen to electoral frauds and manipulations.
It said as long as the sole use of the Ghana Card would not render the current voter’s register, which was complied in 2020, invalid, the party fully supports the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana’s draft Constitutional Institution (C.I.) titled “Public Regulation 2021,” which is before Parliament.
The General Secretary of the PNC, Janet Asana Nabla, at a press conference held in Accra yesterday, explained that they were supporting the use of the Ghana Card, because “the EC has not said it is conducting a new register.”
“There is no fear then that a current voter who does not have a Ghana Card will be taken off the voter register. In other words, there is no fear of disenfranchisement if the person is already on the register,” she contended.
According to her, the party believed in the EC’s judgment that before the 2024 General Elections, most of the eligible voters would be captured on the National Identification Authority (NIA) database.
She underscored that as most institutions in the country were moving towards the use of the Ghana Card as the only means of identification, the EC could not be different. “There is a national policy, and like all other systems, which have now changed to register individuals through the Ghana Card, the EC is doing same. It is nothing new.”
Per her assessment, since the NIA allowed the registration of 16 years and beyond, the argument that young voters would be disenfranchised in the 2024 General Elections could no longer hold water.
“Moreover, the register will be closed in October 2024, so no one will be disenfranchised. We should also note that one does not need ID to vote. That is the beauty of biometric registration. Your best ID card is your bio data (your fingerprint),” Madam Nabla added.
The PNC General Secretary further explained that with the use of the Ghana Card, there would be no need for new mass registration like previously.
She said the vision to have a single card for various transactions started way back in 2006, with the enactment of the National Identity Register Act, 2002 (Act 750), and subsequent legislations like the National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2111) and sections all emphasised the mandatory use of the Ghana Card.
Madam Nabla, therefore, encouraged the general public to go out in their number to register for the Ghana Card.
