The Electoral Commission, (EC), has dismissed allegations by the Minority Caucus in Parliament suggesting that the Commission intends to compile a new voter’s register for the 2024 general elections.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu had claimed that the EC is seeking, through a new Constitutional Instrument (CI), submitted to Parliament, to replace the 2020 voter register which will cost the taxpayer about US$80 million.
Addressing the press in Parliament, Iddrisu said the Ghana Card cannot be a credible document for electoral registrations in the country because it includes foreign nationals and it is also yet to be acquired by a significant percentage of the citizenry.
“Now it will interest you, members of the media, that currently the National Identification Authority (NIA) has registered 16,654,000 persons, printed 16,341,000 cards and issued 13,300,000 cards against a voter register of 17 million.”
“If you use that against a voters’ population of 17 million, then there’s a critical technical departure from the requirement,” the Minority Leader said.
“We may not even have a voter register to rely on for the conduct of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary election because the number of Ghanaians on the voter’s register far exceeds the number of Ghanaians on the national ID card data and yet the national ID card has other persons including foreigners on it,” Iddrisu added.
“No new register”
However, the director of Electoral Services at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, in an interview with Asaase News said the CI is to allow Ghanaians who have become eligible to register to vote since the last registration exercise in 2020, to do so using their Ghana cards at all District offices of the EC.
“We are only going to do continues registration for those who have not registered and for those who have turned 18”.
“The EC is not doing any new register and the money issues do not come in,” Dr Serebour Quaicoe said.
“We have the 17 million Ghanaians who registered in 2020, they have their voters’ ID card and they voted in the 2020 elections. The register is still credible and fit for purpose,” he added.
Wilberforce Asare
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
99.5 in Accra, 90.7 in Ho, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 89.5 in Tarkwa, 100.3 in Cape Coast and 106.9 in Walewale
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
