Politics

NIA not partisan: PRO to NDC

The National Identification Authority (NIA), has finally spoken out against accusations leveled against it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) claiming the (NIA) is trying to disenfranchise staunch supporters of the party through their registration exercise.

According to the Head of Corporate Affairs of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Mr Francis Palmdeti, some of its best work occurred in NDC strongholds and that the authority would not do anything as alleged by the NDC.

He noted that the NIA has put in place rigorous measures which ensured that the Ghana Card registration exercise was done according to law.

Speaking in an interview Mr Palmdeti said, “We will be shooting ourselves in the foot if the board and officials of the NIA decide not to do our work well. We will not work to skew our activities towards one party.”

He noted that there was no way officials of the NIA would allow heads of the authority to disenfranchise Ghanaians. “We make sure we send officials who are natives of the various regions to lead the registration process.” 

He explained that with this system in place, no one can decide to register more or less citizens to the advantage of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr Palmdeti said that the process in the Volta Region, which has been an NDC stronghold was one of best experiences ever. “The turnout in the region was high, coupled with good network, we were able to register more people in the region.”

Debunking claims that the authority took more equipment and registered more people in the Ashanti Region, an NPP stronghold, he said; “We as an authority are required to follow the law and we would not do anything based on political expediency. We used the same machines in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions.”

Members of the opposition,  NDC have accused the NIA of putting in much efforts to register more people at NPP strongholds whilst intentionally slowing down the registration process and registering less people in NDC strongholds.

The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has insisted that, the Ghanaian passport, Ghana Card and identification by registered voters should be the legal requirement for registering citizens unto the new voter’s register, whilst rendering the use of the existing voters’ ID invalid.

However, the NDC has dragged the EC and Attorney-General to the Supreme Court insisting that the existing voters’ cards should be a form of identification to obtain a new ID card.

The court had slated June 23, 2020 for judgement on the matter.

Show More
Back to top button