The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) has expressed shock the decision by Minority Members of Parliament to boycott the use of only passport and birth certificate as the document for registration of the Ghana Card.
According to the Policy Advisor of the PPP, Kofi Asamoah Siaw, the Minority at the Committee level in Parliament agreed to the exclusion of the voters ID card and driver’s license as the list the list of documents for the registration.
The Minority has distanced itself from the exercise until voter’s ID cards are accepted as one of the requirements for the national card.
Speaking at a Press conference, Kofi Asamoah Siaw in Accra Tuesday stated that the National Identification Authority (NIA) has done nothing wrong by insisting that only passport and birth certificate should be the document for registration of the Ghana Card.
He noted that NIA which is a creature of statute is only acting on the directives from Parliament with regards to the registration exercise, wondering why MPs who gave the NIA a clean bill of health will turn around and want to scuttle their efforts.
“We become more suspicious especially when in the past the NDC lost 8 years opportunity to fix this problem. We would have been happy to clap for them and if you go back to history we were always on the neck of late President Prof. Mills, and then subsequently President Mahama to issue the card. We were able to capture 21 million people onto the database and so why did e decide to throw everything away. We’re completely shocked and we see that it’s a complete disservice, maybe it’s in their DNA not to get us onto the path of proper development.”
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament say they are heading to the Supreme Court over the National Identification Authority’s exclusion of the Voter ID card as a requirement for registration for the Ghana Card insisting that it will leave many Ghanaians without the cards.
Communication director of the NIA Francis Palmdeti says the Authority is working within its mandate hence cannot be faulted.
“Majority of Ghanaians have the voter ID card and Article 42 clearly states it is only people who are Ghanaians that can vote. In other words anyone who has a voter ID card is a Ghanaian so why is NPP insisting on outlawing many Ghanaians on this. So we are saying that until a proper interpretation of Article 42 and sections of the L(I),the minority will not be part of the process and we are heading to the court. Our lawyers are working on it and you will hear from them soon”.
