The Coalition of National Youth Organisers of some political parties have endorsed the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to accept the Ghana Card as a form of identification for the upcoming registration of eligible voters.
They comprised the National Youth Organisers of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), People’s National Convention (PNC), Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Great Consolidated People’s Party (GCPP) and All People’s Congress (APC).
“We will assist and support the EC’s decision to accept the Ghana Card in the exercise since it has hinted of plans to accept the card as proof of citizenship when it embarks on the limited registration of eligible voters who have attained the age of 18 and those who were unable to vote during the 2021 registration exercise,” the Coalition noted.
A statement issued in Accra said there had not been much debate on the issue of age or sanity of registrants over the years, however, the challenge had always been the status of the person’s citizenship and from their checks, over the years, majority of challenges that had characterised electoral registration processes by the Commission had been to question citizenship status of persons.
It said it had led to beefing up of the borders with extra Ghanaian security forces every time EC decided to embark on electoral registration for fear of non-Ghanaian citizens coming into the country to register as voters.
“The reason being, although article 6, to article 10 clearly states who a Ghanaian is, the Ghanaian does not have valid and acceptable National Identification or document to prove their claim of citizenship which has always led to confrontations, tensions and sometimes violence at registration centers.
“Due to suspicion foreigners are being registered, credibility of Ghana’s voters register has always been doubted depending on who is in power under the 4th Republic between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) since 1995 and also witnessed countless Election Day violence and post-election violence.
“Since beginning of 4th Republic it has been a dent on our image as a democratic country, with most causes of violence always due to suspicion of non-citizens attempting to vote or having voted so we must assist and support EC to safeguard our democratic path as a system of government,” the statement indicated.