Ghana may not have a credible voter register to run the 2024 general elections if the Jane Mensa led Electoral Commission should insist on compiling a new voters register relying solely on the current National Identification Card popularly referred to as the Ghana Card.
This is according to the largest Minority Group in Parliament made up of the Members of the main opposition political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The Leader of the group in Parliament, Haruna Iddrissu, told the Parliamentary Press that they have information the Electoral Commission is scheming to have Parliament approve a Constitutional Instrument (CI) which would make the Ghana Card the only source document for getting unto the register.
A Member of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor has already confirmed to the media that the Electoral Commission has already forwarded such an instrument to the committee to be considered.
According to the Leader of the Minority, it would not make statistical sense to want to use the National ID card as the source document for that exercise because the number on the current voters register far exceeds the number of registered National ID card holders.
“If we use that instrument of a National ID card against a voter population of 17 million, then there is a critical technical departure from the requirement. We may not even have a voter register to rely on for the conduct for the 2024 presidential and Parliamentary elections. Because the number of Ghanaians on the voter register far exceeds the number of Ghanaians on the National ID card. And yet the National ID card has other persons including foreigners on it,” he said.
The Minority Leader further observed that, “the Electoral Commission by law and by duty, aught to have conducted limited voter registration exercise in 2021 and 2022. They failed to undertake this national exercise and therefore eligible Ghanaians who have attained age 18 and above, have been denied so to speak, the opportunity to get registered and to exercise their right to vote as Ghanaian citizens.” Watch video here
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
