By Nelson Ayivor
Ho, July 20, GNA – A group calling itself the Coalition of Ghanaians Without Ghana Card (GWiGC) says the insistence of the Electoral Commission (EC) on accepting only the Ghana card as sole document for registration to vote in the 2024 general elections was an affront to Ghana’s democracy.
The group is, therefore, calling on the EC to rescind it’s decision, which it said was a sinister move to disenfranchise many citizens who do not have the card.
Mr Richard Kasu, the lead convener of the group in a statement issued in Ho on Thursday, copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said: “It is important to note that the Electoral Commission’s (EC) unpopular position to amend the Constitutional Instrument (CI), particularly portions pertaining to the registration of voters, to make way for the Ghana Card as the sole document for registration or acquisition of a voter register means a huge number of Ghanaians will not be able to register and vote.”
It said the move is in total contravention of the provisions contained in Ghana’s 1992 Republican Constitution.
The statement said, “It is worth noting that the entrenched position taken by the Electoral Commission and the National Identification Authority (NIA), further reinforces our suspicion of a sinister move to suppress votes of some Ghanaians for whatever reason.”
It further said the surprising ongoing silent registration for the Ghana Card at various regional offices of the National Identification Authority (NIA) under the operational name “premium express” where ordinary Ghanaians were required to pay an amount of GHC280 apart from having to travel from various parts of a particular region to its regional capital as worrying and called for a seizure in the commercialization of the process.
“In fact, what is more worrying is that Ghanaians, who even make efforts to move to district offices of the NIA seeking to register are unable to do so with several excuses from officials including network challenges and lack of printing cards among other flimsy excuses,” the statement observed.
The statement said though the NIA law required mass registration, the period within which such mass registration was organised, were in the COVID-19 pandemic and due to government’s restrictions, it was impossible for all Ghanaians to participate in the registration exercise.
The statement called for an all inclusive stakeholder discussion to make the Ghana Card registration process more progressive, accessible, and affordable to all Ghanaians at all times.
GNA