The Minority in Parliament has warned that any attempt by the Electoral Commission (EC) to use the Ghana card as sole identity for acquiring a voter’s ID will disenfranchise millions of Ghanaians.
The EC chair Jean Mensa has said using the Ghana card as the sole requirement to register as a voter will prevent minors and foreigners from getting onto the electoral register to vote.
Briefing Parliament on Tuesday (28 February), Mensa said, “the use of only Ghana Card will ensure and guarantee the credibility of the register and elections, prevent enrolment of minors, prevent foreigners from voting, eliminate the guarantor system which is prone to abuse.”
“I wish to emphasise that the Ghana Card will not be used to vote in the 2024 elections. The Ghana Card is only a requirement to register as a voter,” the EC chair said.
However, addressing a news conference in Parliament on Wednesday (1 March), the Majority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson said there is a deliberate ploy to disenfranchise Ghanaians.
“As we speak, millions of eligible Ghanaians do not have the Ghana cards and therefore stand the risk of completely being disenfranchised,” the opposition leader in Parliament said.
“Any attempt by the Electoral Commission to insist on the Ghana Card as the sole identity document for the registration of the voters’ ID will therefore deprive a vast majority of our people their constitutional right to register and vote,” he said.
Listen to Ato Forson in the attached audio clip below:
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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