The Inter-Party Resistance against the New Voter Register (IPRAN) has kicked against plans by the Electoral Commission (EC) to make the Ghana Card and passport the main requirement for the upcoming voter registration.
It said, the move will disenfranchise 10 million eligible voters.
Ahead of the 2020 General Elections scheduled for December, the EC has decided to compile a new register and has submitted to parliament a proposal that will end up excluding the voter ID Card from the list of primary identification documents that will be required.
According to the Inter-Party Resistance against the New Voter Register, 10 Millions Ghanaians risk losing their right to vote if the EC goes ahead with its plans.
At a press conference today, the group explained, “This is as a result of the fact that, even though available evidence from Ghana Statistical Service show that 17,749,005 Ghanaians are eligible to vote in the 2020 General Election, only a paltry number of about 6.5million of these eligible Ghanaian voters may have successfully enrolled for the Ghana Card and just about 1million to 1.5 million of eligible voters have the Ghanaian Passport, leaving close to about 10 million Ghanaians to go through a rather tedious and less reliable option of the vouching process”.
They added, “We have heard some of the misleading and deceptive claims from the EC, ostensibly arguing that the exclusion of the existing voter ID card, was driven by a ‘school of thought’ that some foreigners may be carrying the voter ID card and some others who registered in 2012 with NHIS Card may still be on the register.
“This argument is preposterous and repulsive to say the least as the so called reliable identification documents (Ghana Card and Passport) are also fraught with same allegation of foreigners’ infiltration and in some instances foreigners possessing”,
IPRAN is stressing on its stance that the current voters’ register is credible and without blemish and hence there is no need for the compilation of a new register especially during this period of Covid-19.
Read the full press statement from the Inter-Party Resistance against the New Voter Register below:
PRESS CONFRENCE ADDRESSED ON BEHALF OF THE INTER-PARTY RESISTANCE AGAINST THE NEW VOTER REGISTER –IPRAN ON THE EXCLUSION OF VOTER ID CARD FROM THE IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR VOTER REGISTRATION AS PROPOSED IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL INSTRUMENT ADMENDMENT BEFORE PARLIAMENT, AT THE KAMA CONFERENCE CENTRE ON TUESDAY, 26TH MAY, 2020
Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, on behalf of the Inter-Party Resistance against the New Voter Register (IPRAN), you are welcome to the Kama Conference Center. We are grateful to you for honoring our invitation.
Let me also use this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for your continuous publicity support for our activities in this civic battle to ensure the right thing is done and our young fragile democracy is protected and grown from strength to strength. Our intention to continuously engage you is driven by the belief that the ultimate sovereignty of the nation lies in the citizens and for that matter the Peoples’ aspirations must lead the national agenda.
As you are already aware, The Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voter Register (IPRAN), a coalition of some major political parties in Ghana, has since its inception been engaging in series of public manifestations intended to strengthen the frontiers of our electoral system and for that matter our democracy. It is also our considered view that justice and fairness in the electoral system are the only set of ingredients that precipitates Peace, Stability and Development.
Fellow Countrymen, today, we have invited you here to share with you some thoughts on the growing intransigence and lack of fairness on the part of the Electoral Commission in respect of the matter relating to the Voter Register and the exclusion of the voter ID Card from the list of primary identification documents prescribed under Section 1 (3) of the Constitutional Instrument 91 (now being amended in Parliament to CI 126).
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, let me use this opportunity to reemphasize that, our long held position on the ECs call to compile a new vote’rs register for the 2020 General Election remains unadulterated and the reasons for same continues to grow stronger. We need not mention the hydra-headed challenges the outbreak of COVID 19 has brought in its wake, to aggravate the already existing rigidities confronting the proposed compilation of the new register as earlier expressed by the Resistance. Therefore, the unflinching need to re-echo our position in full support of the ECs own earlier stance, that the current voters’ register is credible and without blemish.
Fellow Countrymen, IPRAN’s attention was drawn to a publication by graphic.com on Monday 16th March, 2020 relating to the matter of the EC filing an amendment of CI91, particularly Section 1(3) to exclude the Voter ID card as part of the primary identification documents required by an eligible voter to go through voter registration ahead of the 2020 General Elections. It is disappointing and disheartening to note that, that was the first time political parties in the Resistance had heard about this blatant attempt at political bigotry by the EC to exclude close to about 10 million eligible voters from registering to vote in this year’s General elections.
It also important to emphasize that, the EC surreptitiously employed a crude Machiavellian tactic in this mischievous agenda by circumventing long standing laid down procedures of allowing IPAC to discuss such an important matter such as amending an electoral law. In fact such matters are first discussed by a committee of experts at IPACs Sub-committee of Legal Affairs and then later brought for further deliberation and adopted by IPAC before filing same at the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament.
It is the considered view of the Resistance that restricting the voter registration identification requirements to only Ghana Card, Passport and the vouching process, has the potential of robbing over 10a million Ghanaians of their inalienable rights to vote. This is as a result of the fact that, even though available evidence from Ghana Statistical Service show that 17,749,005 Ghanaians are eligible to vote in the 2020 General Election, only a paltry number of about 6.5million of these eligible Ghanaian voters may have successfully enrolled for the Ghana Card and just about 1million to 1.5 million of eligible voters have the Ghanaian Passport, leaving close to about 10 million Ghanaians to go through a rather tedious and less reliable option of the vouching process.
As we may all be well aware, the existing voters ID card is the most widely available identification document in terms of depth and usage with over 16 million holders. It has also been legally endorsed by the Supreme Court as the best prima facie evidence of voter registration eligibility as exemplified in the Abu Ramadan Case. It is also the only Ghanaian Identification document with the most rigorous, thorough and transparent acquisition process, that allows for a 3 tier challenge and adjudication of one’s citizenship.
Indeed, the thought of the possible reasons behind this decision raises more question than answers. Indeed, more suspicion than clarity. The wishy-washy conduct of the EC and the NIA goes to deepen the widely held suspicion that the actions of the EC may constitute a grand criminal conspiracy between the EC, NIA and the NPP to rig the mandate of the people by disenfranchising over 10 million eligible voters from the strongholds of opposition parties.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we have heard some of the misleading and deceptive claims from the EC, ostensibly arguing that the exclusion of the existing voter ID card, was driven by a ‘school of thought’ that some foreigners may be carrying the voter ID card and some others who registered in 2012 with NHIS Card may still be on the register. This argument is preposterous and repulsive to say the least as the so called reliable identification documents (Ghana Card and Passport) are also fraught with same allegation of foreigners’ infiltration and in some instances foreigners possessing same have been arrested as reported on the following news webs:
https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-news-nia-officer-arrested-for-registering-nigeriens.html – NIA officer arrested for registering Nigeriens
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Nigerien-grabbed-for-Ghana-card-registration-875602 – Nigerien grabbed for Ghana card registration
https://www.pulse.com.gh/news/local/ghana-card-officer-arrested-for-registering-foreigners/tgzcr16 – Ghana Card officer arrested for registering foreigners
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Nigerian-arrested-with-a-Ghana-Passport-206112 – Nigerian arrested with a Ghana Passport
https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/September-24th/police-arrest-two-persons-in-connection-with-passport-fraud.php – Police arrest two persons in connection with passport fraud .
Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, it will be most ridiculous for the Electoral Commission as an institution to claim that after the widely publicized deletion of 56,770 names of individuals who registered in 2012 with National Health Insurance Cards, there are still some possible holders of voter ID cards who were left on the register. Contrary, to this deceptive claim, the exercise was transparently conducted with the full involvement of all stakeholders and the list of same was published as follows:
http://citifmonline.com/2016/07/full-list-deleted-nhis-registrants-on-voters-register/ – Full list: Deleted NHIS registrants on voters’ register
http://www.africanelections.org/ghana/news_detail.php?nws=7260&t=FULL%20LIST:%2056,772%20NHIS%20registrants%20deleted%20from%20the%20voters%20register – FULL LIST: 56,772 NHIS registrants deleted from the voters register
Fellow Countrymen, assuming without admitting that the claim is true, why wont the EC go through the same procedure for deleting the unqualified holders of the voter ID card just as was done in 2015 to those individual suspected to be on the voter roll with the NHIS Card. Clearly, someone is desperately lying to justify an unintelligent decision.
As if that was not enough, the same EC officials led by the NPP General Secretary made a claim that the IPRAN political parties boycotted the consultative meeting that discussed the CI amendment in question.
This is another naked manufactured lie by the EC and the NPP General Secretary, as the said meeting was held on 25th March, 2020, eight (8) clear days after the amendment was filed in Parliament. In fact, the issue of CI amendment was not even captured on the agenda for the said IPAC meeting nor captured in the records as having been discussed. This clearly constitutes a blatant aberration of common sense and an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians.
It is important to also recount how the EC has unceremoniously switched position few months after our engagement at the Coconut Groove Hotel with the ECs own Committee of Eminent Advisors where they had forcefully stated their resolve to use the current Voter ID card as a source document for the intended voter registration exercise, as captured on slide 27 of their presentation at the 30th January 2020 joint meeting. Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, it is therefore our considered view that the arestriction of the eligibility to register and vote to the Ghana Card whose implementation and issuance is largely incomplete with its attendant irregularities is improper, illegitimate and unconstitutional.
In conclusion, we want to continue to serve notice to the EC, the NIA and the NPP that we are still alive to our collective civic responsibility to rise in defense of our democracy, and we shall do so without let or hindrance from the oppressor who is applying the peoples discretionary powers vested in them whimsically and capriciously. We continue to demand from the religious society, moral society and civil societies their timely involvement in preventing an impending implosion, by getting involved to cure the wanton abuse of power, complete disregard for due process and neglect of common sense in the discharge of the EC’s mandate towards 2020 General Elections.
Let me reemphasisze that we must make common cause to ensure, that the EC does not take the entire nation on this dreaded, dangerous, wasteful and uncertain path that has the potential to plunge this country into crisis. A peaceful and successful election is nonnegotiable.
Long live the Resistance!!
Long live our Democracy!!
Long live Mother Ghana!!
Aluta Continua, Victoria Ascerta!!!
God bless our Homeland Ghana, and make our Nation Greater and Stronger
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