Minority to block EC from laying Constitutional Instrument (CI) to make the Ghana card the 2024 election registration for 2024

The minority in Parliament has served notice it will block the laying of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) Constitutional Instrument (CI) for the 2024 general elections. The CI is expected to be laid before Parliament next month.

The EC is expected to lay the CI before Parliament to back its decision to make the Ghana Card the primary document for enrolling onto the electoral roll. However, the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Sagnarigu Constituency in the Northern Region, A. B. A. Fuseini, has objected to the EC"s decision.

He said the CI will not see the light of day if the EC insists on going ahead with the decision of making the Ghana Card the primary document in the next registration exercise. “The EC’s CI will be blocked if it fails to review the CI for the 2024 general elections,” he warns.

He directed the EC to go back to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament to review its earlier decision to make the Ghana Card the primary document for registering onto to electoral roll.

The Sagnarigu Lawmaker said until the EC’s CI is reviewed, the NDC Minority will not allow the EC to lay the CI on the floor of Parliament when the house resumes for sittings next month. The MP, who is a Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select-Committee on Communications, relayed the Minority’s decision while speaking in an interview with Korku Lumor on the 505 news analysis program on Accra-based Class 91.3 FM.

He queried what was wrong with the guarantor system that has worked for the EC over the past thirty years of the country’s democracy. According to Mr. Fuseini, “As it stands, millions of Ghanaians do not have Ghana Cards per the National Identification Authority’s (NIA) own reasons,” “If the EC wants to make the Ghana Card the primary document for registration because it wants to get rid of minors and foreigners, are there not minors as well as aliens in possession with the Ghana Cards in the country? What is the rationale for the EC to say it wants to prevent minors from enrolling on the voter’s register?” The lawmaker said the EC is just impervious to advice adding that any attempt to disenfranchise even one Ghanaian will not be taken lightly.

He cautioned the EC to shelve its obnoxious decision contained in the CI or risk having the CI blocked.

Report by Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor