The spokesperson for the Interparty Resistance Against the Compilation of a New Voters’ Register, Bernard Mornah, has insisted that nothing makes citizens more Ghanaians than their birthright from their parents and it was wrong for the Electoral Commission (EC) to attempt compiling a register at a wrong time using only passport and Ghana Card IDs as proof of citizenship.
He noted that the 1992 Constitution in Article 6, spelt out clearly as to who is a Ghanaian, which must not be ignored because it was not wrong for the EC to compile a new voters’ register of any form but the autocratic criteria including timing with the tendency to deny a lot of Ghanaians their birth and constitutional right to vote was a grave concern for well-meaning Ghanaians.
“We are completely against the EC to compile a new voters’ register but if they are adamant to listen to the wisdom of other civil society organisations who are also kicking against it for obvious reasons then they must make it possible for all Ghanaians to register.
Mr Mornah, who is also the National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), speaking at Tumu Kuoro’s palace in Tumu in the Upper West Region at the weekend during a courtesy call on Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton VI stated it was sad that the EC was using criteria that would deny many people the right to vote.
He claimed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) might be suspecting they would lose the 2020 elections if they do not tamper with the voters’ register with the connivance of the EC to favour them and indicated that “the EC and the leadership of the NPP must think of Ghana first and either stop compiling a new voters’ register or make it possible for all to register by accepting the existing voter ID since Ghana was bigger than any political party.”
Mr Mornah said the closing of the country’s borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic would further deprive many Ghanaians of the opportunity to participate in the registration processes, which would deny them their fundamental human right to vote. -GNA
