Member of Parliament for Buem Constituency Kofi Iddi Adams has taken on the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) for deliberately avoiding some questions in Parliament on Tuesday, February 28.
Madam Jean Adukwei Mensa appeared before the Committee of the Whole to answer questions on a new constitutional instrument (CI) to guide voter registration ahead of the 2024 elections.
She dispelled suspicions that the Ghana Card would be used to vote next year but stressed that it will be used for the continuous registration.
“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.
“The Ghana Card will not be used for voting in 2024, it will be used to register,” she maintained.
But speaking on TV3‘s New Day on Wednesday, March 1, Mr Adams, a former National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Organiser, said he found it difficult for the EC to discard its system and rather go for that of the National Identification Authority (NIA).
He suggested that the only amendment the EC could have done was to ensure that CI 126 introduces a more robust guarantor system like the NIA’s by getting guarantors to swear before a commissioner of oaths.
He insists that this would have avoided all the controversies about the use of the Ghana Card to vote.
For him, the action of the Commission is suspicious.
“The Electoral Commission clearly is planning with the ruling party to rig the 2024 elections. Elections are not rigged only on election day.”
The Minority in Parliament has been critical of the EC in planning to introduce a CI to make the Ghana Card the sole document for registration.
On Tuesday, February 28, Tamale Central MP Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed’s use of the word ‘shame’ against the Chair of the Commission was condemned by the Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who asked his fellow party member to withdraw the word.
“Mr Speaker, if you direct me to do anything I will, but I need clarification, if I don’t speak into the mic it doesn’t become a statement on record so I want your direction.
“If I am withdrawing something that is not recorded then I will do so. We all know that any comment that is not made into the mic is not on record. I am withdrawing that statement even though it was not captured by the mic but as you directed.”
Former MP for Tema East Constituency Daniel Nii Titus-Glover, who was also on the morning show, was unhappy with the attitude of the Minority.
He said the cause of many not registering for the Ghana Card is the NDC.
He revealed how the current National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, then General Secretary, issued a statement asking members of the opposition party not to register for the Cards.