NDC will resist use of Ghana Card for elections – Afriyie Ankrah

Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, National Director of Elections, National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said that the Party would resist attempts by the National Identification Authority (NIA) and the Electoral Commission (EC) to make the Ghana Card a requirement for voter registration and voting in next year’s general elections.

He said considering the plethora of problems affecting the smooth conduct of the mass registration exercise, it would be “unthinkable” to make the card a document for voting in the 2020 elections.

Mr Ankrah, who was addressing a press conference in Ho, after touring some areas in the region to familiarise with the exercise, said the challenges could not make the card credible for any public use unless it was made available to all.

He requested that the NIA increased the duration by additional weeks to take care of the increasing number of applicants, who had resorted to sleeping at the centres to have their turn.

“Everything that has happened within the past few days has been a disaster and we condemn it rightly and demand a thorough review of the process to address the challenges at the registration centres,” so that the people were not de-naturalised in the process, the Party’s Director of Elections said.

Mr Ankrah said the NIA could have learnt useful lessons from the Greater Accra region registration exercise to make the Volta one better.

He said the Party had received reports of abnormal queues at Torkor, Dzoanti, Konda, Gbefi, Fesi, all in the Kpando Municipal, and in Akpokope, Akuetteh, Adidome, Kpetoe and Ketu North of technical glitches contributing to long queues.

Mr Ankrah also alleged that registration officials began the days duty late, yet closed early, showcasing “disrespect and disregard” to all, irrespective of age, status, gender.

Mr James Gunu, Volta Regional Secretary of the Party told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, the Electoral Commission allegedly said it would create a new voter register and they (NDC) suspected that the Commission wanted to make the Ghana card a requirement for the voter registration, hence the caution.

Source: GNA