The Electoral Commission will accept the new Ghana Card as proof of citizenship, in the upcoming limited voters’ registration exercise despite a suit challenging the issuance of the card.

National Identification Authority (NIA), issuers of the Ghana Card, has been dragged to the Supreme Court over a decision to exclude the Voters ID as proof of Ghanaian citizenship for the acquisition of the card.

A group, Strategic Thinkers, is seeking clarity from the Supreme Court on the true interpretation of what constitutes proof of citizenship.

According to the NIA, apart from proof of citizenship, the Ghana Card is a multifaceted identity card that will be used for voting, national health, driving license, etc.

However, at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held on Wednesday, the Commission announced that the Ghana Card will be accepted during the limited voters’ registration exercise scheduled for September 16 to 25.

The limited voter registration is to enable first-time voters to take part in the referendum for the creation of the new regions on December 27.

Director of Communications at the EC, Eric Dzakpasu, said first-time voters must go with proof of their eligibility to take part in the limited voter registration.

“The law talks about you presenting a national identification card. The law doesn’t qualify it to be the old or the new so we presume that when you produce your national ID card at the registration centre it will be accepted,” he said.

Controversy

Meanwhile, the first IPAC meeting under the leadership of the new EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, happened with some controversy.

Jean Mensa

The opposition National Democratic Congress refused to attend the IPAC meeting citing late invitation. General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said the invitation for the meeting came at 12:14 pm on Wednesday while the meeting was at 1:00 pm same day.

The EC has since apologised to the NDC for the mishap.