Stay focused and deliver on the Ghana cards – Let My Vote Count Alliance to NIA

Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) is calling on the National Identification Authority (NIA) to dismiss calls by sections of Ghanaians to include the voter’s ID card in the ongoing Ghana Card registration.

The group in a statement noted that the inclusion of the Voters ID card in the Ghana Card registration will distort the data, further deepen the cracks in the entire national identification system and compromise the authenticity of the whole process.

“The Electoral register has a lot of unresolved anomalies. It is for this reason that the LMVCA rallied behind and offered our full support to the plaintiffs in the Abu Ramadan & Evans Nimako v Attorney General case in which the plaintiffs argued that the use of the NHIS Card for voter registration was unconstitutional as the NHIS Card merely indicates a minimum of 6 months of residence in Ghana and not Ghanaian citizenship as stipulated by the constitution,” the statement reads further.

According to the group, in the May 5, 2016 ruling of the Supreme Court, the use of NHIS Cards to register voters and issue them with voter's ID card was unconstitutional and void. This made the Supreme Court order the Electoral Commission of Ghana to expunge from the voter's register the names of all those who registered with the NHIS Card.

“The fact of the matter is that there are people who used the NHIS Card to obtain voter's ID in clear breach of Article 42 of the 1992 constitution which states that only citizens of Ghana may be issued a voter's ID. Thus, using the voter's ID for the Ghana Card registration will further perpetuate this unconstitutionality and render the process of national identification void,” the group noted.

“In the absence of either of these two documents, a citizen may guarantee for an applicant. The question we seek to ask now is, by which other means can a Ghanaian prove his/ her citizenship other than the above-mentioned process” the group quizzed.

Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) stressed that “the national ID is crucial for our economic development and the consolidation of democracy. Since the information will be integrated into the database of institutions such as SSNIT, DVLA, GRA among others.”