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NDC National President, Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo
The opposition Democratic National Congress (NDC) is accusing the Electoral Commission (EC) and the National Identification Authority (NIA) of devising ways to deny some 11 million Ghanaians the opportunity to vote in the upcoming 2020 general election.
The plans, according to Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the party’s national president, were to manipulate the elections in favor of the current government of the New Patriotic Party (PNP).
He explained that the EC decision to use only the Ghana Card and passport as the only documents required to register as a voter in the country was a plan calculated by the Akufo-Addo administration to manipulate the upcoming elections.
Press conference
Mr. Ampofo, who was on his way to a press conference in Accra at the party headquarters on Thursday, May 14, 2020, titled: “The Election Commission’s ploy to manipulate the 2020 general election, in concert with the Authority National Identification, “said that many Ghanaians were not able to register for the Ghana card, and that many Ghanaians also did not have a passport, the other requirement.
He said that according to NIA data, of the 17.3 million people who are 18 years of age or older and said to have been captured by the NIA during its registration exercise, only 6.5 million received the Ghana card.
That, Mr. Ampofo explained, means that “almost 11 million (62 percent) of eligible voters will have to go through the oath option in order to register for voter ID, if registration for the 2020 general election is materializes. “
According to him, due to the cumbersome nature of the processes that those without the Ghana card and passport would have to go through, many people will not be able to go through all the processes to register as voters.
He said that the NIA was created with the mandate to issue national identification cards and administer the National Identification System (NIS) according to the National Identification Authority Law, 2006 (Law 707), and noted that subsequently, the Registry Law National Identity, 2008 (Law 750) was approved to govern the functions and operations of the NIA.
Modification of laws
That, he said, after extensive consultation with all interested parties, including political parties, the following registration requirements such as birth certificate, voter identity card, driver’s license, passport or a baptismal certificate were provided in the Section 8 of Law 750 to establish eligibility to be registered by the Authority for a national identification card.
Mr. Ampofo noted that “the exclusion of the voter ID card from the Akufo-Addo government’s registration requirements for the national ID card was part of a well-calculated scheme to deprive a good number Ghanaians to acquire national identification. ” card (Ghana card), to be used later, as one of the registration requirements in the new voter registration plan they had long hatched. “
“As we predicted, the NIA registration process for the Ghana Card has been very slow, so to date, the process that started with a pilot in late 2017 and was supposed to be completed in one year, could only register 11,062,055 of some 19 million Ghanaians (aged 15 and over) who are eligible to register. Even weirder is the fact that of these 11 million Ghanaians who have registered, only 7,074,048 have received cards (according to the NIA website https: nia.gov.gh) as of May 2, 2020), “he explained .
Back door
He said that despite various assurances made in Parliament and in the media by the President, the Head of the NIA and the Electoral Commission, that “the Ghana Card will not be used for the 2020 elections, the government and the Commissions are pushing for legislation in Parliament to make the Ghana Card and the Ghanaian passport the main breeder’s documents to register as a voter, thus excluding the use of the existing voter ID card from the Commissions themselves. ”
According to Mr. Ampofo, “the objective is to deprive a significant number of people in the NDC strongholds in support of the grand scheme of the EC led by Jean Mensa to manipulate the 2020 general elections for the New Patriotic Party.”
He believed that the mission and motivation of the EC chief was to please President Akufo Addo and guarantee his reelection for a second term.
He said that President Akufo-Addo “was not concerned with Ghana’s future, its peace, stability and the survival of democracy,” adding that “he has not kept his promises to the people of this country, and seeing defeat by looking He, he and the EC led by Jean Mensa and the NIA led by Ken Attafuah are desperately planning to manipulate the 2020 general election and hold onto power at all costs, ”stated Mr. Ampofo.
Also read: With or without new registration, NPP is ready to win the 2020 surveys – Mac Manu
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