The Electoral Commission (EC) and its agencies have been urged by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to use the Ghana Card for all national activities, not just the ongoing voter registration process.
It claimed that by utilizing the Ghana Card, all potential problems with the guarantor scheme, including age and citizenship concerns, would be resolved.
Using the Ghana Card would eliminate the expense of appeals at the district and national levels to assess and clear cases, the NPP's Evans Nimako, director of research and elections, told the Daily Graphic.
"If the EC utilizes the Ghana Card, as the guarantor system is, we would be better off to have a semblance of a clean and reputable registry."
It is strongly believed that the combined effect of Regulations 9(2) of CI 91 and 7(1)(j) of LI 2111 would eliminate the unneeded uncertainty and controversies that characterized voter registration processes, the official said.
Context
There have been issues with the EC's continuous voter registration campaign utilizing the Ghana Card as the only form of identity.
Due to this, Parliament will meet on February 28, 2023, with the Ministry of Finance, the EC, and the National Identification Agency (NIA).
The EC claims that utilizing the Ghana Card would help to sanitize the voting process and guarantee that only eligible Ghanaians were added to the voter register.
system of sureties
When questioned about why the EC could not utilize the same guarantor mechanism as the NIA, Mr. Nimako said that because the NIA had received its approval through the Commissioners of Oath, it was simpler to use the Ghana Card to speed up the process.
Moreover, according to him, the EC and other state institutions are now required under Legislative Instrument (LI) 2111 to demand that people use the Ghana Card.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), which passed the CI 2111 in 2012, did not perceive a reason for the nation to flee or avoid its application.
MPs
To avoid doing the good people of Ghana any injustice, I wish to implore the Members of Parliament (MPs) to allow the CI to pass in its current form. If they fail us, eternity won't be kind.
"When the problem of the guarantor system rears its ugly head, the MPs should rather assist alleviate the country of the unneeded complexity that is involved with voter registration procedures," he said.
Mr. Nimako requested assistance so that the NIA could carry out its duties within the law. "They must be effective and efficient in all areas to carry out their mandate without fear or favor," he added.
LI
The EC was led by Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan when LI 2111 went into force in February 2012, under the administration of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
He clarified that the Ghana Card was required as a form of identity for voter registration under Section 7 of the LI. The only problem was that it wasn't put into action.
Although the Ghana Card wasn't just given out to Ghanaians, he said that it was different for foreigners.
Because fewer Ghanaians had the LI 2111 in 2012, he claimed, it could not have been utilized, and the same argument was made for the 2016 elections.
With approximately 17 million people currently registered for the Ghanaian government, according to Mr. Nimako
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