It's only in Jean Mensa and Akufo-Addo’s Ghana that a passport is not proof of nationality – Sammy Gyamfi

The National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has berated the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana over its proposal to make the Ghana Card the only acceptable document for the registration of new voters.

Speaking in a Good Morning Ghana interview on Thursday, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Gyamfi said that the EC is saying that the Ghanaian passport which is used to identify Ghanaians who travel abroad cannot be used to identify Ghanaians in Ghana.

He added that points being made by the EC chairperson, Jean Mensa, against the use of the passport of Ghana and the guarantor system to compile the voters’ register do not make sense.

“In which country in the Word is the passport not considered as proof of nationality? Show me one country in the world except Jean Mensa’s and Akufo-Addo’s Ghana; that the passport that we travel with as the proof of our nationality will be disregarded, treated as nothing.

“When Jean Mensa is travelling, what does she use to travel, Ghana Card or her passport? Obviously, her passport. That was the evidence she presented to the immigration officers as proof of her nationality.

“And she comes and says Ghanaians cannot use our passports as proof of our nationality. Yet the Ghana Card which she says is now going to be the only card which can prove nationality can be acquired with a passport," he said.

“So the passport can give birth to the Ghana Card, which she says can give birth to a voter ID card but the passport, which gave birth to a Ghana Card, cannot give birth to a voters ID. Does this make common sense?” he questioned.

The NDC national communication officer added that it defies logic that Ghanaians can acquire the Ghana Card through the guarantor system, but the EC is saying that Ghanaians cannot get their voters' ID card through the system.

Watch Sammy Gyamfi remarks in the video below:

Does this make common sense? - @SammyGyamfi_ on new C.I#GoodMorningGhana #MetroTV pic.twitter.com/zx4BV7zZDu

— Metropolitan Television (@metrotvgh) March 2, 2023