Source: newsthemegh.com
The only way to remove minors and foreigners from the voter list, according to the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC), is through the usage of Ghana cards upon registration.
Despite the opposition’s commitment, the director of electoral services, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, stated that the EC is confident that the introduction of Ghana Cards will significantly lower the number of children and foreigners on the register.
On Thursday, June 15, 2023, the Director of Electoral Services at the EC spoke at a roundtable discussion organized by the Political Science Department of the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana, Legon.
‘Electronic Technology and the Future of Election in Ghana’ was the topic of the talk.
Dr. Quaicoe underlined the EC’s satisfaction with the issues of impersonation, multiple registration, and multiple voting having been mostly resolved.
He asked, “But how do we deal with the issue of registration of minors and foreigners?”
The majority of the time, according to the previous director of elections for the Ashanti Region, political parties are directly involved in these violations but afterwards blame the EC of tolerating such infiltration.
He emphasized, “The Electoral Commission believes that using the Ghana Card is one way of addressing the issue.
Because your date of birth is on the Card and your citizenship is also on it, he said, “there have been many arguments and we are still fighting it out. We are insistent that let us use the Ghana Card so that it will address the issue of minors.” That’s another approach to significantly cut down on the registration of kids and foreigners.
In September of last year, the House unanimously rejected a proposal by the EC to introduce a constitutional instrument (CI) in Parliament that would have made the Ghana Card the only document accepted for voter registration in the 2024 elections.
As members of the caucus feared that using the Ghana Card as the only form of identification would disenfranchise many voters, the Minority led the resistance.
Therefore, it was requested that the Commission modify the CI, which is soon to be presented to the House.