Government plotting to push new CI for limited voter registration – Dafeamekpor alleges

The Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has alleged that the government will be laying a new Constitutional Instrument (CI) for a limited voters' registration exercise the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana wants to conduct for the 2024 elections.

According to the MP, the draft CI still proposes that the Ghana Card should be the only required documentation needed for the limited registration exercise despite the cries by many Ghanaians when the move was announced in 2022.

In a tweet shared on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, Dafeamekpor added that the EC, in its stubbornness, still wants to conduct the registration exercise only at its district offices.

“Tomorrow, this Gov't intends to lay & pass a new CI which will limit Registration of New Voters only to District EC Offices & also rely only on Ghana Card.

“The EC has refused to listen to good suggestions to improve the instrument. I'm yet to see a copy of the gazetted Instrument,” parts of the tweet read.

Dafeamekpor’s tweet also contained what appears to be a parliamentary document dated February 8, 2023 which indicated that the “Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2023” will be before the House.

It can be recalled that the issue of the EC using only the Ghana Card for the next limited voters' registration exercise become very topical in August 2022 after some officials of the commission announced the move.

The former chairman of the EC, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, questioned the EC’s proposal to use only the Ghana Card for the upcoming registration exercise.

He said that the use of the Ghana Card as the only identification for voters' registration is against electoral inclusivity, fairness, and justice.

According to him, many Ghanaians are finding it difficult to get their Ghana cards; therefore, the use of the card alone can disenfranchise millions of qualified electorates.

“Ghanaian citizens don’t lose their citizenship if they are 18 years or older but do not have the Ghana Card. So, the moot question is: why make the Ghana Card the only means of identification for purposes of establishing eligibility to register to vote,” Graphic.com.gh quoted Dr. Afari-Gyan in an interview.

Aside from the use of the Ghana card, the former EC boss raised other concerns about the proposed CI, including the suggestion of having two voters’ registers.

View the MP’s tweet below:

Tomorrow, this Gov't intends to lay & pass a new CI which will limit Registration of New Voters only to District EC Offices & also rely only on Ghana Card. The EC has refused to listen good suggestions to improve the instrument. I'm yet to see a copy of the gazetted Instrument. pic.twitter.com/iYiDZfKeg6

— Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, Esq. MP. (@etsedafeamekpor) February 7, 2023