Using Ghana Card only as source document to register voters is illegal – Mahama Ayariga
The Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, has argued that the use of only the Ghana Card as source document for voter registration is unconstitutional.
He explained that the main reason from the EC to use only the Ghana Card is to eliminate the guarantor system. This, according to the MP, is unconstitutional since the NIA itself had come to Parliament to amend their National Identity Registry Act in 2017 to include a guarantor system.
“So why would they be running away from their guarantor (EC) system to go and embrace the NIA’s guarantor system?” he queried. The Bawku MP revealed that the EC never realized that the NIA had gotten Parliament to amend their law.
Read Mahama Ayariga full post on Facebook.
I was clear on Big Issues that the EC would be acting unconstitutional if they say Ghana Card should be the only source document for voter card registration. Because, their main reason is that they are running away from the guarantor system. I pointed out to the EC when they came to Parliament that even the NIA had come to Parliament to amend their National Identity Registry Act in 2017 to include a guarantor system similar to the guarantor system of the EC so why would they be running away from their guarantor (EC) system to go and embrace the NIA’s guarantor system? I demolished their case. They never realized that NIA had gotten Parliament to amend their law.
In further discussions of the subject, I said there is no reason why Ghanaians should be made to go for a Ghana Card and after that use the Ghana card to go and obtain a voters card. The two cards essentially establish the fact of your nationality and capture your age. From a national efficiency point of view and to prevent waste and inconvenience to the citizen we should move towards a use of the Ghana Card to vote. Between 2006 and 2008 when they brought the proposal to Parliament to establish a National Identification Authority. I opposed it, as Ranking Member on Constitutional Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. I took a position that they should allow the Electoral Commission to do that job. EC would use the cards for those above 18 years to compile a voters register and use that for voting purposes. The EC was in a better position to carry out that function.
On Saturday I mentioned that in Senegal, where I had just observed elections a week ago, I noticed that people just showed their National ID card (their version of Ghana Card) and they were allowed to vote. We should not burden citizens with taking so many cards that would essentially be doing the same thing.
By: Agaatorne Douglas Asaah | myactiveonline.com
