The Electoral Commission (EC) says the National Identification Authority (NIA) has guaranteed it that the Ghana Card would be made available to everybody before the commission launches continuous voter registration early next year.
The commission has suggested using the Ghana Card as the sole identifying document for the next registration operation in a Constitutional Instrument (C.I) presented before Parliament.
Some players in the electoral process are concerned that making the Ghana Card the only form of identification for the registration process may result in the disenfranchisement of many qualified voters.
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The major opposition, National Democratic Congress is among those who have expressed reservations about the use of the Ghana Card.
Assurance
However, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, the EC’s Director of Electoral Services, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, stated that the commission was in contact with the NIA, and that the latter had assured the commission that the challenges associated with the issuance of the Ghana Card would be a thing of the past by the end of the year.
“The NIA has given us all the assurances that now that they have rolled out 291 registration centres, we are also going to roll out 267 registration centres. This means that the people will have access to the Ghana Card to enable them to get their names onto the register,” he said.
He said that the EC decided to utilize the Ghana Card as the sole method of identification since the process would go until October 7, 2024, at which point all eligible voters would have received their Ghana Cards and their names would be on the voters roll.
Dr. Quaicoe said that there would be adequate time for all Ghanaians to obtain the Ghana Card during the next two years, from January 2023 to October 7, 2024, and that no qualified voter would be excluded.
“All the challenges will be rectified. They will get the Ghana Card; they will come to our offices to register. Let’s throw this challenge; we have more than two years, and let’s give ourselves the end of 2023. If genuinely there are people who are not getting the card, then we can now put forth that argument that people will be disenfranchised as it is being suggested,” he said.
Target
He stated that the EC’s goal for the duration of the operation was to register 1.8 million eligible voters.
Responding to concerns made by the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George, that the EC was adamant on using just the Ghana Card for voter registration, Dr Quaicoe replied that with the NIA’s assurance, no one would be disenfranchised.
SOURCE: GRAPHICONLINE
