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Former MP worried over Ghana Card as sole identification for voter registration

The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Akan Constituency in the Oti Region, Joseph Kwadwo Ofori, is worried over relying on Ghana Card as the sole identification material for voter registration.

He explained that the acquisition of the Ghana Card was difficult and its coverage low, relying on it would disfranchise potential voters and described as unnecessary arguments about whether to use it as sole identification material or not.

“The exercise will be a waste of the country’s scarce resources as Electoral Commission (EC) has just compiled a new Voters’ Register in 2020 and the Commission’s announcement to rely on Ghana Card as a sole identification material for voter registration will disenfranchise many citizens because it is difficult to acquire the card.

“The EC must take another look at the announcement so as not to waste the country’s scarce resources and disenfranchise many eligible voters or abandon the idea because it can plunge the nation into civil conflict as the opposition parties will fiercely resist it and also affect Inter Party Advisory Committee meetings,” Mr Ofori cautioned.

As of Thursday, August 4, the National Identification Authority (NIA) had registered 17,138,609), but not all registered persons have receive their cards, of the figure, 571,149 registered Ghanaians have not had their Ghana Cards printed out.

Mr Ofori urged the Commission to allow those who attained the age of 18 years and above and wanted to register with any Ghanaian Identity card without restriction in order to avoid chaotic scenes before, during and after the registration.

However, the EC has dismissed reports it will compile a new register for the 2024 elections and maintained the register which was compiled for the 2020 elections was still credible but it was instead putting in place measures to ensure continuous registration of persons onto the register.

Dr Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Electoral Services at the EC, insisted that the new registration processes would rely on the Ghana Card as a base document to register new persons saying “if people are going to register any day at our district offices, then they need some credible form of identification and it is possible once it is going to be continuous the political parties will not be there to be guaranteeing or objecting to it“.

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