Pressure group Strategic Thinkers Network-Africa (STRANEK) has filed a writ at the court against the National Identification Authority (NIA) for not accepting the voters’ ID as one of the documents of proof for the national registration exercise.
The NIA – as per the National Identification Amendment Law, 2017 or Act 950 – requires a Ghanaian passport, a birth certificate or two Ghanaian witnesses for the registration of citizens for the new cards, to be known as Ghana Cards.
But there has been disagreement from certain quarters over the requirements.
Most of the dissentients want the voters’ ID cards to be considered as one of the documents of proof for registration.
The disagreement has been led by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), whose Members of Parliament boycotted the NIA’s exercise for parliamentarians.
A member of the party’s national executive committee (NEC), Kofi Adams, quite recently disclosed that the leadership of the party met the NIA and demanded an amendment to Act 950.
But the NIA has insisted the voters’ ID will not be considered as it expressed shock at the Minority MPs latest stance on the matter.
Acting Public Relations Officer of the NIA Frnacis Palmdeti told TV3 on Wednesday that it was the same parliamentarians who passed the National Identification Amendment Bill into law.
READ: NIA shocked at Minority’s stance on Ghana Card
STRANEK has been the latest group to fight the non-acceptance of voters’ ID as one of the documents of proof.
‘Unconstitutional, null & void’
Its Executive Director, Nii Tettey Tetteh, says the suit filed at the law courts is to seek interpretation on what qualifies to be considered for the citizenship of a Ghanaian.
Speaking on 3FM’s News Hour on Wednesday, Mr Tettey Tetteh said what the NIA is trying to do is “unconstitutional, null and void”.
He said it will take only the courts to interpret articles 6 and 42 of the 1992 Constitution.
He contended that NIA’s stance is only going to disenfranchise millions of Ghanaians as the Ghana Cards are likely to be used “to vote in the next elections”.
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana