Report By Bernard K Dadzie.
The Convener of Coalition of Ghanaians Without Ghana Card (GWiGC) Richard Kasu has hinted that the insistence of the Electoral Commission (EC) on accepting only the Ghana card as the sole document for registration to vote in the 2024 general elections is an affront to Ghana’s democracy.
The Coalition of Ghanaians Without Ghana Card is calling on the EC to rescind its decision, which it says is a sinister move to disenfranchise many citizens who do not have the card.
Speaking at a press conference held at Ghana International press center in Accra, Richard Kasu, said: “It is important to note that the Electoral Commission’s (EC) unpopular position to amend the Constitutional Instrument (CI), particularly portions pertaining to the registration of voters, to make way for the Ghana Card as the sole document for registration or acquisition of a voter register means that a huge number of Ghanaians will not be able to register and vote.”
“In fact, what is more worrying is that Ghanaians, who even make efforts to move to district offices of the NIA seeking to register are unable to do so with several excuses from officials including network challenges and lack of printing cards among other flimsy excuses,” he observed.
He said it is worth noting that the entrenched position taken by the Electoral Commission and the National Identification Authority (NIA) further reinforces our suspicion of a sinister move to suppress votes of some Ghanaians for whatever reason.
According to him, the identification card being issued by the National identification Authority is not a wholy Ghana card rather an Ecowas Identity Card for purposes of travelling and could not be mistaken for a Ghana card.
For his part, Mr. Felix Agorvor, Leading member of the Coalition added that the ongoing registration for the Ghana Card at various regional offices of the National Identification Authority (NIA) under the operational name “premium express” is worrying.
To him, under this scheme, ordinary Ghanaians are required to pay an amount of GHC280 apart from having to travel from various parts of a particular region to its regional capital. He therefore called for an end to the commercialization of the process.
He called on Ghanaians to resist the oppressors rule to administer injustice by using a so called Ecowas card as a sole source document for registration of voters.