Afari-Gyan Kicks Against Plans To Use Ghana Card As Sole ID for 2024 Election

• Former EC Chairman Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has made a rare public appearance to comment on the plan by the current administration of the Commission to tie the next elections to the Ghana Card
• The respected former EC Chair says it does not make sense to tie voting to the national ID card
• According to him, the move could prevent millions of eligible Ghanaians from exercising their constitutional right to vote in the upcoming elections

Former Electoral Commission (EC) Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, has kicked against the plan to use the Ghana Card as the only form of identification for the next general elections in 2024.

He said the move was pointless and could spell doom for the country.

“The moot question is: why make the Ghana Card the only means of identification for purposes of establishing eligibility to register to vote,” he quizzed during an interview with Daily Graphic.

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The EC confirmed rumours when one of its top officials told Joy News recently that the Ghana Card will be the required ID for voting in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Deputy EC Chairman, Dr. Bossman Asare, said the Ghana Card, the national ID card, has made a lot of impact since its introduction.

"As we speak now, almost 17 million Ghanaians have registered for the Ghana card, so, the Commission, in collaboration with our partners, took the decision that now, let’s have the Ghana Card as the main requirement," he said.

But wading into the EC's intention, Dr Afari-Gyan said since Ghanaians 18 years or older without the Ghana Card do not lose their citizenship, it did not make sense to prevent them from voting because they did not have the card.

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Already, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has condemned the move as sinister.

NDC claims EC plans to compile new voters register with Ghana Card

In a previous story published by YEN.com.gh, a former Deputy Information Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, alleged that the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission plans to compile new voters register in 2024.

According to him, after spending $80 million to compile the register for the 2020 elections, the elections management body was scheming to compile a new electoral roll for the next election.

He posted on Facebook on July 12, 2022, that the EC plans to make the Ghana Card the only source of verification for Ghanaians who would be deemed eligible to vote in the next polls.

Source: YEN.com.gh