The People’s National Convention (PNC) has said it supports the use of the Ghana card as the sole document for the registration of new voters since it is backed by law.
At a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, 16 August 2022, the party’s General Secretary Janet Asana Nabla, said: “It should be noted that young people coming in have over two years to acquire their Ghana card and register to vote”, adding: “The age for acquisition of the Ghana card is 16 while that for voter registration is 18, giving a whole two-year margin for new voters to acquire a Ghana card”.
“We should also note that one does not need an ID to vote. That is the beauty of biometric registration. Your best ID is your bio data (your fingerprint)”, she indicated.
Again, she added, “following this, there will also be no new mass reregistration as was done previously. There is no fear then that a current voter who does not have a Ghana card will be taken off the voter list. In other words, there is no fear of disenfranchisement if the person is already on the register”.
Read the full press statement below:
Distinguished party members, Friends from the media, Ladies and Gentlemen, I must first express my sincerest appreciation to you for honouring our invitation to the press conference.
The reason for this conference is to set the record straight on matters of registration of qualified Ghanaians onto the electoral register and the position of the People’s National Convention in the midst of a categorical attempt by some people to, again, create tension over unambiguous electoral laws and some Constitutional Instruments enacted over the years.
Friends from the media, the Electoral Commission of Ghana has placed a draft C.I. titled: Public Regulations 2021, which is expected to regulate the continuous voter registration.
Per the C.I., the EC is seeking to make the Ghana card the sole identification medium for eligible voters who want to get onto the electoral roll.
The C.I has been referred to a Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament and we know by convention, this committee is chaired by a member of the minority group.
THE PNC ASSESSMENT SO FAR
1. The Electoral Commission used Ghana card, passport and 2 guarantors in the absence of the other IDs for the 2020 election. That register remains valid. What is upcoming is continuous registration. The EC has not said it is conducting a new registration exercise.
2. The EC has assessed and come to a conclusion that most potential new voters will have the Ghana card thereby eliminating the need for calling for either of the previously used multiple identities. Moreover, the guaranteed system can easily be abused in border areas.
3. This is a national policy and, like all other systems which have now been changed to register individuals through the Ghana card, the EC is doing same. It’s nothing new and unfounded
4. It should be noted that young people coming in have over two years to acquire their Ghana card and register to vote. The age for acquisition of the Ghana card is 16 while that for voter registration is 18, giving a whole two-year margin for new voters to acquire a Ghana card.
Moreover, the register will be closed in October 2024, so, no one will be disenfranchised.
We should also note that one does not need an ID to vote. That is the beauty of biometric registration. Your best ID is your bio data (your fingerprint).
5. Again, following this, there will also be no new mass reregistration as was done previously. There is no fear then that a current voter who does not have a Ghana card will be taken off the voter list. In other words, there is no fear of disenfranchisement if the person is already on the register.
6. There are no inhibitions or any reason that prevents any citizen who is eligible to vote from securing a Ghana card between now and October 2024 to register on the electoral roll.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is important at this juncture, for us to recall some important events and legislative processes and decisions that set a clear direction, as to what MUST be the core or sole document for registration and compilation of our electoral roll.
In January 2008: Parliament of Ghana passed the National Identity Register Act, 2008 (Act 750). The Act was to, among others, ‘provide for the capture of personal information of individuals by the Authority for the issue of national identity cards.
Section 18(1) of Act 707 empowers the Minister to make Legislative Instruments to, among others, ‘(i) provide for the uses to which identity cards shall be put.’ Section 73(1) of Act 750 empowered the Minister to make Legislative Instruments to, among others, ‘(f) provide that every public office should demand the presentation of an identity card as a condition precedent to the provision of its service.’
In February 2012: Hon Alhassan Azong, Minister/MP prepared and laid before the Parliament of Ghana, which passed the National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (LI 2111). Regulation 7 of LI 2111 is titled ‘Mandatory use of national identity card.’
Regulation 7(1) says: ‘A national identity card issued to an individual shall be used for the following transactions where identification is required… (j) registration of voters… *(l) registration of SIM cards.’
Friends from the media, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is against this backdrop that the People’s National Convention supported the use of the Ghana card as the sole or breeder document for purposes of registering citizens into our electoral roll.
In April 2006: Parliament of Ghana passed the National Identification Authority Act, 2006 (Act 707). The Act was to, among others, establish an Authority responsible for the issue of national identity cards.’
The PNC’s position comes days after Ghana’s longest-serving Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said, without having the Ghana card, “Ghanaian citizens don’t lose their citizenship if they are 18 years or older”, adding: “So, the moot question is: why make the Ghana card the only means of identification for purposes of establishing eligibility to register to vote”.
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