NIA has failed to distribute thousands of Ghana Cards — Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama has said at the moment, the Ghana Card is being brandished as a political tool around which all manner of schemes is being fashioned towards elections.

He said there is the need to allow sufficient time for its full integration into the way of life before “this kind of unhelpful exclusion of all other legitimately acquired, credible and time-tested forms of identification is implemented.”

Mr Mahama said this in his concluding remarks during a workshop held for Minority Members of Parliament in the Volta Region on Sunday July 17.

He stated that the National Identification Authority (NIA) cannot claim to have covered every Ghanaian who should be registered or distributed all the cards printed to those who have been captured in their system.

“They have failed to distribute hundreds of thousands of cards to people who have registered. Until full and total coverage is achieved in the roll out of the Ghana Card, room must be made for those who are yet to be served, to exercise their democratic rights of voting, he said.

“They cannot be excluded from the voter register due to no fault of theirs. This should be clear and quite easy to appreciate. The haste on the part of the Electoral Commission to exclude all other means of identification is therefore clearly indecent and informed by an ulterior objective.

“Last week, you in the Minority raised red flags over suspected attempts to compile a new register on the sole basis of the Ghana Card. The Electoral Commission has been quick to deny that it harbours any such intentions.

“Until the advent of the current leadership of the Commission, this denial would have marked the end of the matter. The Commission in its present guise is known to have walked back on similar commitments in the recent past and so we in the NDC will maintain eternal vigilance to ensure that no such thing happens.

“The process of continuous registration as canvassed by the Electoral Commission must necessarily include a system that enables all political parties and relevant stakeholders to possess the capacity to monitor same in real time, to avoid fraud and exploitation to the undue

advantage of any party. We in the NDC will insist on this.”

Previous articleI wonder if I’m being victimised because I’m a woman – Adwoa Safo
Next articleAccra-Tema train shuttle services begin today – Railway Company

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.