EC Can’t Make Ghana Card Sole Citizenship ID For Voters’ Register – Parliament Says | Parliament

Parliament final Friday rejected the Electoral Fee’s (EC) use of the Ghana card as the only supply of identification for one to be registered within the new voters’ register.

The Home unanimously really useful to the fee to incorporate the guarantor system within the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulation, 2023 earlier than it may current it for consideration. 

Legislators have been of the view that except and till the challenges confronting the issuance of the Ghana Card have been handled, utilizing the Ghana Card as the one medium of voter registration would negatively affect the electoral roll and thereby deny some in any other case certified individuals from registering to vote.

“The EC ought to tarry slowly till everyone eligible voter is afforded the chance to register and procure the Ghana earlier than the laws of such a compulsion,” they mentioned.

Report adoption

The Home took the choice after legislators adopted the report of the Committee of the Complete on the draft constitutional instrument.

The report, signed by the Chairman of the Committee of the Complete, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who can also be the Speaker of Parliament, mentioned it was not the time for the EC to introduce and implement the Ghana card as the one technique of identification of citizenship for the needs of voter registration.

The report was offered to the Home by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who moved the movement for the Home to undertake the committee’s report.

The stories captured the issues of MPs from either side of the Home raised throughout earlier conferences by the Particular Funds Committee and the Committee of the Complete with the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa; the Govt Secretary of the NIA Prof. Ken Attafuah, and the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

It was premised on the truth that the EC may solely lay the brand new C.I. in Parliament for admission and consideration if it gave beneficial consideration to the issues raised by MPs.

Able to help reforms

The report mentioned MPs, having totally interrogated the problems and reforms being contemplated by the EC, have been able to help any effort that will allow each Ghanaian to get a Ghana Card as a result of it was the legislation.

It, nonetheless, mentioned the legislators wouldn’t settle for and would reject any effort that was geared in direction of making the EC use the Ghana Card as the one medium to qualify an individual who was eligible to vote in 2024 elections.

That, it mentioned, was premised on the truth that certainly Ghana had come of age and will boast of a reputable nationwide identification card (Ghana Card) to transact enterprise with.

“Nevertheless, even within the face of a lot of identification choices given previously, and even within the operation of the NIA, some residents are unable to register for the nationwide card as a result of existence of significant challenges the authority is confronted with,” it mentioned.