Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga East, Dr Dominic Ayine has said the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) bid to see to the use of the current voters’ identification card (ID) as a prerequisite for the upcoming new registration exercise is far from over.
According to the former Deputy Attorney General, the current ID card is fit for purpose especially within a period he believes is inadequate for the National Identification Authority’s Ghana Cards registration process and its onwards distribution.
This comes after a 106 -92 vote in parliament gave EC’s Constitutional Instrument (C.I. 126) the green light that will allow the Commission to compile a new voters’ register with new requirements.
Speaking on PM Express June 9, the Chairman of the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation told Evans Mensah that they will exhaust all legal means to get the Electoral Commission to back the minority’s call.
“We will never throw in the towel. We are in court now and we believe in the independence of the judiciary. We believe that the judges will look at the law, the legal arguments on the merits and whether we lose or win, we will abide by the results of the Supreme Court litigation,” Dr Ayine told JoyNews.
He also debunked assertions that the current electoral roll is populated with holders of National Health Insurance Cards, one of the grounds on which the EC has made a case for a new register.
But also speaking on the show, ranking Member on the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah believes the EC’s assessment is factual.
He also expressed doubt about what he described as Dr Ayine’s “presumption of pessimism about the NIA. I am not advocating a mop-up but I am saying that clearly, there is an opportunity to distribute the cards that have been printed
“In the event that they are able to distribute the cards or if not, and you have a target of fourteen to fifteen million people, the seven million is half the people already. That is the cards that have already been distributed. With the other half, if the last registration exercise took 95% in vouching, then the other half is far less than 95% of the population who will be registered and therefore can go through vouching,” the Adentan MP added.
