A Senior Fellow at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Dr Osae Kwarpong has said that the ability of the Electoral Commission (EC) to use the Ghana Card for voter registration will depend on how fast the National Identification Authority (NIA) issues Ghanaians with their cards to enable them to register onto the electoral roll.
His comment comes after the EC has been insisting on the use of the Ghana Card as the sole identification document for voter registration.
The elections management body believes that the Ghana Card will deal with the issue of registering minors and foreigners onto the electoral roll.
Speaking at a forum held at the University of Ghana on Thursday, June 15, the Director of Electoral Services at the EC, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe said “We are satisfied that we have addressed impersonation to a large extent, we have addressed double registration and multiple voting to a large extent, but how do we address the registration of minors and the registration of foreigners?
“I believe the politicians will now help us because most often than not they are those who recruit those people and end up accusing the EC of having registered minors.
“But the EC thinks that one way of addressing this is to use the Ghana Card and there have been lots of arguments that we are still battling it out.
“We are still insisting that let us use the Ghana Card so that we can address the issue of minors because their dates of birth will be on the card and their citizenship will also be on the card. That will also reduce drastically the registration of minors and foreigners.”
Speaking on the Ghana Tonight Show on TV3 with Alfred Ocansey Thursday, June 15 Dr Osae Kwarpong said “I understand where the EC is coming from in terms of its rationale and its determination to have voters register with ‘integrity’.
“Year after year, we have had these conversations among the political parties, among Ghanaians in trying to get us to a point we can trust the register. We have put in several measures and the most recent one was 2020.”
He added, “This insistent on the Ghana Card, I think one of the issues that have been discussed in the past is that it is also dependent on the ability of the NIA to ensure that Ghanaians can register and get their cards in time so that they can register to vote.”