The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed its reservations against the newly proposed Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) by the Electoral Commission which seeks to use the Ghana Card as the sole document for voting in the 2024 elections.
The Party’s Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday said the NDC will use all legal means possible to oppose the move.
Mr Ofosu Amofo contended that the decision by the EC will end up denying millions of Ghanaians their rights to vote as many people have not yet registered for their Ghana Cards.
The NDC has thus called on the EC to abandon the newly proposed C.I. as it is yet to be put before Parliament.
“Since the C.I. has not formally been laid before Parliament, we take this opportunity to call upon the EC to abandon the idea altogether. We wish to serve notice that we will use every lawful means to resist this latest effort to undermine the right of Ghanaians to vote and in the process skew the electoral system in favour of the NPP…in the light of the above we demand an immediate cessation of all works on the new C.I.”
The party wants a thorough stakeholder discussion to fine-tune the new C.I. and factor in the concerns of other parties before the 2024 elections.
According to the NDC, if the EC has no intentions of rigging the 2024 elections and wants to genuinely conduct a new registration exercise, the Commission should rather amend the current C.I. rather than introduce a new C.I.
“It is also strongly felt that if the EC is indeed sincere in its intention to conduct a continuous registration exercise, it should rather come with an amendment to the existing C.I. for that purpose instead of introducing a completely new C.I. This will remove any lingering doubts that the EC intends to jettison the existing voters register in the near future,” Ofosu Ampofo said.
Meanwhile, the EC has argued that the use of the Ghana Card as the sole source of identification for the continuous voters’ registration exercise is the surest way to rid the electoral register of minors and foreigners.
Addressing a news conference in Accra on September 8, Deputy EC Chair in Charge of Operations said the Ghana Card would help phase out the guarantor system which was often exploited by non-eligible persons to get onto the electoral register.
“Such unqualified persons used the door of the guarantor system to try to get onto the register…anyone who turns 18 simply has to walk to the district office of the Commission where the person wants to vote and register as a voter.”
The Commission is expected to lay before the House the newly proposed C.I. when the House resumes.
