Youth organisers endorse use of Ghana Card for voter registration

The Coalition of National Youth Organisers comprising the National Youth Organisers of the CPP, PNC, PPP, GCPP and the APC has 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.

“We the Coalition of National Youth Organisers support the Electoral commission’s decision to accept the Ghana card in that exercise,” the coalition said in a statement.

The EC has hinted at plans to accept the Ghana 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 that: “there has not been much debate on the issue of age or the Sanity of registrants over the years, however, the problem has always been the status of the person's citizenship.

“From our checks, over the years, the majority of the challenges that has characterised the electoral registration process by the electoral commission have been to question the citizenship status of the challenged person.”

It further noted that: “This has led to the beefing up of our borders with extra Ghanaian security forces every time the electoral commission decides to embark on electoral registration for the fear of non-Ghanaian citizens coming into our country to register as voters. The reason being that, although article 6, to article 10 clearly states who a Ghanaian is, the Ghanaian does not have a valid and acceptable National Identification or document to prove their claim of citizenship.

“This has always led to confrontations, tensions and sometimes violence at the registration centers because of the suspicion that foreigners are being registered. This, the credibility of Ghana's voters register has always been doubted depending on who is in power under the 4th Republic between the NPP and the NDC since 1995.”

The coalition indicated that: “We have witnessed countless D-day election violence and post-election violence in Ghana since the beginning of the 4th Republic which is a dent on our image as a democratic country, and most of the cause of the violence has always been the suspicion of non-residents or non-citizens attempting to vote or having voted already.”

It continued that it has “taken this position because we believe in our democracy and hope that the post elections litigations and violence that characterise our electoral processes can end when we all resolved that every election conducted in Ghana and the results declared are indeed the will and the decision of Ghanaians.

“In that regard, let us be mindful that the electoral commission of Ghana is a strong Pillar if not the last barricade which is safeguarding the democratic path we have chosen as our system of government.”

The Coalition also called on politicians, “especially the NPP and the NDC” to “stop interfering in” the work of the EC and stop trying to “wear them our political colours, like we did with Dr Afari Gyan, Madam Charlotte Osei and Now Madam Jean Mensah.”

It, therefore, called on all parties to “rather corporate” with the EC to “help them to fine tune their Constitutional Mandate”.

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