Some NPP MPs going through the registration exercise
The Minority in parliament has maintained its position of boycotting the ongoing registration exercise of Members of Parliament which started on Tuesday in parliament.
Addressing the press yesterday in parliament, the minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament still stands by its position of including the Voter ID Card as one of the primary requirements for the registration exercise else a lot of Ghanaians may not be able to register for the Ghana Card.
He said the Minority has no other option but to proceed to the Supreme Court to seek interpretation of Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution which states that “every citizen of Ghana of 18 years of age and above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda” which according to them means that every Ghanaian with a valid Voter ID card ought to be registered for the Ghana Card.
“We will not participate in this registration exercise until certain pertinent legal issues are addressed,” he said adding that the right to the Ghana Card will be inadequate without the use of the Voter ID card.
However, the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Interior and Defence and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Manhyia North, Collins Owusu Amankwa, has rubbished the minority’s concern saying that members of the minority were part of the legislature which passed the National Identity Register (Amendment) that excluded the use of the Voter ID card.
He said the minority members are only being hypocritical when they say they are against the registration but are doing the registration secretly.
He said he was aware that some minority members had already registered for the cards during this registration exercise in parliament.
“My friend, I have seen some NDC MPs holding their Ghana Cards which means that they are only discouraging people from registering while they register for theirs,” he said adding that NDC followers and members of the public should not follow the NDC MPs because while they are saying NDC members should stay away from the registration, they are registering and also encouraging their family members to do so because they know the importance of the card,” he said.
He therefore called on NDC members and other members of the public to use the other avenues of registering for the Ghana Card by getting two people to vouch or guarantee for them at the registration centres if they do not have the birth certificate and passport as basic requirements.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr