The Electoral Commission (EC) has defended its decision to use only the Ghana Card for the voter registration exercise, saying it is still valid and the surest way to rid the register of minors and foreigners.
According to the ECâs Director of Electoral Services, it is possible for eligible voters to get their Ghana Cards before the end of their registration on October 7, 2024.
Dr Serebour Quaicoe is confident that barring any unforeseen circumstances, every qualified voter can get their identity cards to be fully registered for the 2024 general elections within the next two years.
He believes no one would be disenfranchised because all Ghanaians have enough time to access the Ghana Card.
âOur decision is based on the assumption that by the time we close registration on the 7th of October 2024, any eligible voter would have registered so that one is still valid.
âThe NIA has given us all the assurances that now that they have rolled out 291 registration centres, and we are also going to roll out 267 registration centres, the people will have their names on the Ghana Card.
âAll the challenges will be rectified. They will get the card, they will come to our offices to register. Letâs throw this challenge; we have more than two years, and letâs give ourselves the end of 2023.
âIf genuinely there are people who are not getting the card, then we can now be arguing the argument you are putting across,â he said on Newsfile on Saturday, September 24.
In the past weeks, there have been concerns about the ECâs decision to use only the Ghana Card as the sole document for the voter registration exercise, with some commentators and political analysts warning that the move would disenfranchise eligible voters.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has also threatened to use legal means to prevent the EC from going ahead with its Ghana Card decision.
But the EC has debunked the assertions.
Dr Quaicoe stressed that it would only help to phase out the guarantor system which non-eligible persons have often exploited to get onto the voter register.
âIt is part of our planning that we want to eliminate non-Ghanaians helping us to choose our leaders, which cannot be done anywhere. If you go to other countries, they all use their citizensâ cards,â he added.