The Minority side of Parliament abstained from the Ghana Card registration citing the registration requirements and procurement as problematic[/caption]
The minority has not rescinded its decision not to join the registration for the Ghana Card exercise which began in Parliament on Tuesday, June 12, as it continues to trumpet concerns about registration requirements and procurement infractions.
The minority maintains until the National Identification Authority accepts the Voter’s ID as a proof of national identity, it will boycott the exercise and go to court to seek interpretation of the 2016 Supreme Court judgment in the Abu Ramadan vs Electoral Commission case.
In the said ruling, the apex court ordered EC to delete from the voters’ register the names of all persons who acquired Voter’s IDs using National Health Insurance (NHIS) cards as a proof of identity.
Minority Spokesperson on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Inusah Fuseini, explains, “We as a Minority will stay out of the registration process until a determination of whether or not the Voters ID card can be used as proof of citizenship as the purposes of getting onto the NIA platform”.
Officials from the National Identification Authority were at the Parliament house on Tuesday, June 12, to register parliamentarians and other staff of parliament for the National Identification Card, christened Ghana Card.
TV3’s parliamentary correspondent, Catherine Frimpomaa reported the exercise had started by 10:30 am but only with Members of Parliament from the Majority side.
[caption id="attachment_88108" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
The NIA officials require a passport and birth certificate as proof of national identity before registering for the Ghana Card[/caption]
The minority had served a notice Sunday, June 10, declaring their decision not to partake in the exercise. In that notice, it raised concerns about the proof of identity required by the NIA for the registration and also some procurement infractions among others.
Read: Denationalising Ghanaians: Minority boycotts NIA registration exercise
Some members of parliament from the majority were however not happy with the manner in which the exercise went. They complained the registration was process cumbersome.
It took approximately an hour after the registration had started for MPs to receive their Ghana Card.
The NIA which had scheduled to commence the exercise at parliament on Monday, June 11, pulled a “no show” largely because parliament did not sit on Monday.
Read: NIA officials ‘swerve’ parliament over Ghana Card registration
[caption id="attachment_88109" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
The minority had served a notice Sunday, June 10, declaring their decision not to partake in the exercise[/caption]
Background
The Ghana Card project, which seeks to modedrnise and formalize the Ghanaian economy, was one of the campaign promises of the New Patriotic Party.
Government has said it will in the establishment of a credible national database and serve as the primary ID card that citizens will use to access all services in the country, including even travelling within the West African sub-region.
Read:‘Ghana Card’ to be the only ID card for transaction in Ghana – Akufo-Addo
When fully implemented the Ghana Card will be the only valid ID for application for a bank account, passport, telephone number, property acquisition, driver’s license and many more.
By 3news.com|Ghana ]]>
Advertisement