Minority Wants EC Summoned Over New Voters Register Plans

The Minority wants officials of the Electoral Commission to be summoned to brief Parliament next week to shed more light on the process to compile a new voters’ register with the Ghana Card as identification.

Currently, the Subsidiary Legislation Committee is perusing a draft constitutional instrument on the registration of voters.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim, said the briefing could help prevent controversy.

“Now that the Subsidiary Legislation Committee is doing what we call pre-laying… [maybe] the EC can appear before us next week before we adjourn so that when it comes and briefs us as a committee of the whole, then we juxtapose the two inputs and be able to see how we can find a way to solve these problems so that when the time comes, we wouldn’t be confronted with some controversial issues,” Mr. Ibrahim argued.

But the Ranking Member of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, O.B. Amoah indicated that the committee has begun considering the C.I. and that it’s not necessary for the EC to be in Parliament now.

“We have almost completed the discussions. Regarding the Ghana card guarantors, we asked the EC to go back and look at it, so I don’t think there is any need to drag them here at this time,” Mr. Amoah said.

The Minority has already raised issues with the possibility of a new register on the sole basis of the new Ghana card.

It believes this will be a wasteful expenditure and will disenfranchise a lot of Ghanaians who have not registered or secured their cards yet.

The Minority has said this endeavour will cost about $80 million.