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NDC will resist use of Ghana Card for elections-Afriyie Ankrah

By Maxwell Awumah,
GNA

Ho, Aug. 7, GNA – Mr
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, National Director of Elections, National Democratic
Congress (NDC) has said that the Party would resist attempts by the National
Identification Authority (NIA) and the Electoral Commission (EC) to make the
Ghana Card a requirement for voter registration and voting in next year’s
general elections.

He said considering
the plethora of problems affecting the smooth conduct of the mass registration
exercise, it would be “unthinkable” to make the card a document for
voting in the 2020 elections.

Mr Ankrah, who was
addressing a press conference in Ho, after touring some areas in the region to
familiarise with the exercise, said the challenges could not make the card
credible for any public use unless it was made available to all.

He requested that the
NIA increased the duration by additional weeks to take care of the increasing
number of applicants, who had resorted to sleeping at the centres to have their
turn.

“Everything that has
happened within the past few days has been a disaster and we condemn it rightly
and demand a thorough review of the process to address the challenges at the
registration centres,” so that the people were not de-naturalised in the
process, the Party’s Director of Elections said.

Mr Ankrah said the
NIA could have learnt useful lessons from the Greater Accra region registration
exercise to make the Volta one better.

He said the Party had
received reports of abnormal queues at Torkor, Dzoanti, Konda, Gbefi, Fesi, all
in the Kpando Municipal, and in Akpokope, Akuetteh, Adidome, Kpetoe and Ketu
North of technical glitches contributing to long queues.

Mr Ankrah also
alleged that registration officials began the days duty late, yet closed early,
showcasing “disrespect and disregard” to all, irrespective of age,
status, gender.

Mr James Gunu, Volta
Regional Secretary of the Party told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, the
Electoral Commission allegedly said it would create a new voter register and
they (NDC) suspected that the Commission wanted to make the Ghana card a
requirement for the voter registration, hence the caution.

GNA

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