The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has voiced his concerns regarding the Electoral Commission’s (EC) proposal to make the Ghana Card the exclusive document for voter registration in the 2024 elections.
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu pointed to the ongoing challenges in the issuance of Ghana Cards by the National Identification Authority (NIA) as a reason to exercise caution in relying solely on the Ghana Card for voter registration.
He stressed that there are still many eligible voters who have not received the card, and others who have applied for it are yet to receive it.
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs recalled the criticism the EC faced when they initially linked voter registration for the District Level Elections (DLE) to the Ghana Card, as it excluded eligible voters without the card.
He insisted that making the Ghana Card the sole requirement for voter registration could lead to similar issues.
“So many people don’t have the Ghana card and some of the people who have registered to get the card have not been given the card. And given the pendency of the District Level Elections (DLE) to have tied registration to the Ghana card knowing that some of the eligible Ghanaians have not been registered to get the Ghana cards…to say that you were restricting it to the Ghana card was going to be problematic.”
He stated, “If they can assure that every eligible Ghanaian will be provided with the Ghana card, then you can base the registration on the Ghana card. But if you admit that not every eligible Ghanaian has been registered or can be registered, then it becomes difficult to tie the registration solely to the Ghana card.”
Meanwhile, the Commission has submitted a request to Parliament to withdraw a Constitutional Instrument (CI) it caused to be laid in Parliament last week.
The C.I. seeks to create a new Guan constituency for the SALL areas that currently do not have representation in the 8th Parliament.
According to Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the EC’s request is due to their fear that the CI may not mature in time thereby causing a delay to the upcoming district-level election.
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