NEWSPOLITICAL

 NIA system not designed to favour any party – Prof. Attafuah

The National Identification Authority (NIA) has assured that its systems has not been engineered to favour the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Speaking in an interview on Asaase Radio, the Executive Secretary, Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, said it will be colossal shame not to use the Ghana Card for the upcoming general election.

“Our processes is politically neutral, it cannot benefit a particular party, weather it is National Democratic Congress or New Patriotic Party and NDC has nothing to fear about the Ghana Card and our processes.

“We are not engineering anything to the detriment of NDC and we cannot engineer anything to the benefit of the NPP, we will not do that, we are not designed to do that, the system is technical, its is neutral,” the NIA boss added.

EC’s proposal

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission (EC) is proposing a constitutional change that will make the Ghana Card as the sole document for confirming one’s nationality and age to register as a voter ahead of the 2024 elections.

But that has been met with some stiff opposition from the minority group in Parliament over fears that many citizens will be disenfranchised.

The Director of Electoral Services at the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Serebour Quaicoe, has reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to using the Ghana Card as the exclusive document for voter registration.

Recently at a forum, he explained that the purpose of this is to address concerns related to minors and foreigners registering as voters.

Response

In response to complaints suggesting that the EC was attempting to compile a new voter register ahead of the 2024 elections, Dr. Quaicoe clarified that the EC’s intention was to conduct a “continuous registration” exercise and not to create a new register.

He emphasized that a register had already been compiled in 2020, and the requirement of the Ghana Card was specifically for individuals participating in the continuous registration process.

Dr. Serebour also mentioned that the Electoral Commission is collaborating with Parliament to amend the Constitutional Instrument, which would enable the use of the Ghana Card for continuous registration.

He explained that the proposed amendment seeks to modify the existing election laws to facilitate the constant registration of new voters and individuals who could not register before the 2020 general elections.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button