The EC cannot use the Ghana Card as the sole form of citizenship to register voters, according to Parliament.
The Electoral Commission's (EC) use of the Ghana card as the sole source of identification for registration in the new voters' register was rejected by Parliament last Friday.
Before presenting it for consideration, the House unanimously advised the commission to include the guarantor system in the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulation, 2023.
Legislators believed that unless and until the issues surrounding the issuance of the Ghana Card were resolved, using the Ghana Card as the sole method of voter registration would have a negative impact on the electoral roll, preventing some otherwise qualified people from registering to vote.
"The EC should proceed slowly until every eligible voter is given the opportunity to register and obtain the Ghana before enacting such a compulsion," they said.
Adoption of the Report
The decision was made by the House after legislators approved the report of the Committee of the Whole on the draft constitutional instrument.
The report, signed by the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who is also the Speaker of Parliament, stated that now was not the time for the EC to introduce and implement the Ghana card as the sole means of identifying citizenship for voter registration purposes.
The report was presented to the House by Joseph Osei-Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker, who also moved for the House to adopt the committee's report.
The reports reflected the concerns expressed by MPs on both sides of the House during previous meetings of the Special Budget Committee and the Committee of the Whole with the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa; the NIA's Executive Secretary, Prof. Ken Attafuah; and the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
It was based on the premise that the EC could only lay the new C.I. before Parliament for admission and consideration if it gave favorable consideration to MPs' concerns.
ready to back reforms
According to the report, after thoroughly investigating the issues and reforms being considered by the EC, MPs were ready to support any effort that would enable every Ghanaian to obtain a Ghana Card because it was the law.
It did, however, state that legislators would not accept and would reject any effort to force the EC to use the Ghana Card as the sole means of qualifying a person to vote in the 2024 elections.
That, it said, was based on the fact that Ghana had matured and could now boast of a credible national identification card (Ghana Card) with which to transact business.
“However, even in the face of a number of identification options given in the past, and even in the operation of the NIA, some citizens are unable to register for the national card due to the existence of serious challenges the authority is confronted with,” it said.
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