A Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to initiate a national dialogue to help build consensus on the proposed use of the Ghana card as the sole source document for voter registration in the country.
The consensus, which he said must be sincere and genuine, should include all stakeholders involved in the country’s electioneering exercise, such as political parties.
Prof. Gyampo said the mandate of state institutions such as the EC required them to get the buy-in of all stakeholders for consensus building, hence the need for a national dialogue.
Dialogue
The political science lecturer was speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview on the back of the Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) containing the proposal to use the Ghana card as the only document for voter registration.
“The mandate of state institutions becomes meaningless if they do not get the buy-in of all stakeholders on important national matters, such as the decision to make the Ghana card the only source document for voter registration as issue that affect them,” he said.
In the dialogue, he said, the stakeholders must not take entrenched positions during discussions on the issue to bring finality to it.
Democratic gains
Prof. Gyampo explained that it was imperative for Ghanaians to hold their grounds to consolidate the country’s democratic gains and propel development.
In the absence of such a national accord on the use of the Ghana card as a sole document for voter registration, Prof. Gyampo said there could be chaos during the next general election.
Background
The EC intends to replace the existing C.I. with the new C.I. that makes it mandatory for the Ghana card to be the only medium of identification for purposes of establishing the eligibility or otherwise of a citizen of Ghana to register or to be enrolled on the voters’ register.
With the hung Parliament in force, the EC’s proposal has been met with sharp division as the Minority side was against the proposal while the Majority were in support.
Parliament
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, last Thursday, directed the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensah, to appear in person before the Committee of the Whole of Parliament to brief members on the new C.I. as Parliament resumed sitting today.
The Speaker’s direction came after a meeting of the Committee of the Whole with the officials of the EC and the National Identification Authority (NIA).
Meanwhile, a statement issued and signed by the Director, Public Affairs, Parliament, Kate Addo, said Parliament had not passed any C.I.
It said: “In any case, Parliament does not pass Constitutional Instruments. They only come into force with the effluxion of time; that is, 21 days of the Instrument being laid in the House.”
“The exercise Parliament undertook on Thursday, February 23, 2023, was to hold pre-presentation discussions on the C.I, to collect input from relevant sources for the drafting of the Constitutional Instrument (C.I.),” It stated further.
Source: graphic.com.gh
