The use of the Ghana Card as the only form of identification for people who want to register as voters has been rejected by Parliament.
Before the EC could bring the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulation, 2023, for consideration, the House overwhelmingly recommended that it incorporate the guarantor system.
Lawmakers believed that using the Ghana Card as the only method of voter registration would have a detrimental effect on the electoral roll and prevent some otherwise eligible people from registering to vote until the issues relating to the issuing of the Ghana Card were resolved.
The lawmakers concurred last Friday that "the EC should loiter cautiously until every eligible voter is provided the opportunity to register and obtain the Ghana Card before the adoption of such a necessity."
EC's CI
The EC had submitted a Constitutional Instrument (CI) to Parliament to govern the continuous voter registration process in accordance with Article 11(7) of the 1992 Constitution.
The CI wanted, among other things, to make the Ghana Card the exclusive form of identity and registration for the exercise.
According to the article, unless the house annuls it by a majority of not less than two-thirds of all Members of Parliament, the CI will enter into force after 21 sitting days once it is tabled in Parliament (MPs).
As part of the pre-laying of the CI last month, the chair of the EC, Jean Adukwei Mensa, stated in front of the legislature that using the Ghana Card as the only registration document will guarantee that only qualified Ghanaians are registered to vote.
A step like that, she claimed, would offer the nation a reliable voter list and improve its election system.
Report acceptance
Following the adoption of the Committee of the Whole report on the draft CI by the legislature, the House made its decision.
The report said that it was not the appropriate moment for the EC to establish and implement the Ghana Card as the sole method of identifying citizenship. It was signed by the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who is also the Speaker of Parliament.
First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu delivered the report to the House and made the motion for the adoption of the committee's findings.
In previous meetings of the Special Budget Committee and the Committee of the Whole with the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Ken Attafuah, and the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, the reports accurately reflected the worries of MPs from both sides of the House.
It was based on the idea that the EC could only submit the new CI to Parliament for approval and discussion if it gave the MPs' concerns favorable consideration.
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