The Senior Vice President of IMANI – Africa, Kofi Bentil fears that some Ghanaian citizens will be disenfranchised should the Electoral Commission (EC) insist on using the Ghana Card as the sole document for voter registration.
According to him, some people should not be blamed if they do not have a Ghana Card.
He said the EC must make it possible for citizens without the Ghana Card to use other constitutionally acceptable means of identification to vote.
“There seems to be an arrangement by which people will be disenfranchised if they do not have the Ghana card. People will be disenfranchised if they do not have a Ghana card.
“Not having the Ghana card is not of their doing. You’ve heard about how many cards are held up in a warehouse somewhere,” he said.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Bentil said that the law has provided a fundamental qualification for voting.
He explained that the fundamental qualification is not satisfied by the Ghana card, however, citizens should not be excluded from the voting process in case they do not possess a Card.
Months ago, Mr Bentil predicted that citizens would seek legal action against the EC should they be disenfranchised due to their not having the Ghana card.
He added that the electoral body stands to lose if anyone decides to sue it.
The Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa appeared before Parliament on Tuesday, February 28 to clarify issues concerning the Ghana Card.
She said the Ghana Card will not be required to vote but will be used as an identification document to register qualified voters.
Mrs Mensa explained that individuals who have been able to register with the Ghana Card would be given a voter’s identification Card which would later be used for voting.
“The Ghana Card will not be used for voting in the 2024 election. The Ghana Card is only a required document to register as a voter. Once you present your Card and successfully register as a voter, you would be issued a voter’s identification card which bears the code of your region, your district, your electoral area and the name of your polling station.
“The Card does not have these features and therefore it will not be used to vote in the 2024 general election,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Minority caucus in Parliament has disagreed with the approach.
According to them, the Ghana Card has not been made accessible to everyone, therefore, it cannot be the sole document required for registering voters.
Commenting on the issue, the National Identification Authority (NIA) said a majority of about 17 million Ghanaians have been provided with the Ghana Card and that the rest could be served within a period of six months.
Experts have since called for the use of other authorised documents as some doubt the possibility that everyone will be served before the election.
