Parliament throws away EC’s move to use Ghana Card as sole document source for voter registration

The Electoral Commission’s (EC) plan to utilize the Ghana Card as the sole identification document to register to vote in the 2024 elections was thwarted when Parliament urged the electoral body to go back to the drawing board on March 31.

The decision was made by the Committee of the Whole of Parliament days after officials from the European Commission (EC), the National Identity Authority (NIA), and the Finance Minister went before the Committee to deliver briefings.

In its findings, the Committee urged the EC to guarantee that all eligible voters be permitted to obtain their Ghana cards prior to the presentation of the new CI to Parliament for passage.

Parliament said the following in its reports..

1. Lack of adequate resources to ensure that every eligible Ghanaian is registered before the 2024 general elections.

2. Trust deficits between the political parties and the consequent lack of consensus on the implementation of this time

3. The Committee is emphatic in its position that this is not the time to introduce and implement the Ghana Card as the only means of identification of citizenship for the purposes of voter registration.

4. The EC should tarry slowly until every eligible voter is afforded the opportunity to register and procure the Ghana card before the legislation of such compulsion.

5. Inclusion of the guarantor system as part of the reforms.