The Electoral Commission has asked civil society groups and all other interested parties to submit names of persons who registered with NHIA cards as proof of Ghanaian citizenship.
The Supreme Court, in a clarification of its May 5 judgment in the Abu Ramadan case, ordered the EC to delete the names of some 56,000 NHIA registrants, which was presented to it by the Commission.
But Director of Public Relations at the EC, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu in an interview with Citi News, emphasized the need for various stakeholders to be involved in the process of deleting the names since maintaining a credible voters’ register is a shared responsibility.
[contextly_sidebar id=”0x6FosHnf3UvoIM15YDslyXnAYD3or2x”]He therefore asked various stakeholders to assist the EC in its bid to clean the register.
“At our level, we are the custodians of the data of all persons who register in this country and we have gone through the data and we have come out with the number of persons who used the NHIA to register. What the Supreme Court said was that, if you know of any other person who registered with the NHIA, then you would have to come forward with it to the Electoral Commission and from that level we can move on.”
“The entire process of cleaning the register and ensuring a credible election is a collective responsibility. All stakeholders have their roles to play and that is what the Supreme Court said. Any other person who is not on the roll, if you can identify them and have proof of it and bring them to the Commission, we will definitely have to work with it.”
Journalists can vote before election day
Meanwhile the Commission has allayed fears that journalists across the country may not be able to vote prior to the election day, in what is known as special voting for security services and other selected groups.
Some parliamentarians had raised issues with the EC for not making provisions for journalists to vote before the election day.
But Mr. Dzapasu told Citi News an amended constitutional instrument which will allow journalists to participate in the election is currently before Parliament for consideration.
“In fact, yesterday [Thursday] evening, I heard on the news that journalists will not vote but I want to assure you that currently the CI 75 that we use is before Parliament and has provisions which covers journalists to take part in a special voting.”
“The provisions have been made, the procedures by which journalists can apply for special voting and all other persons who would have to take part in the special voting is currently before Parliament and so lets wait when Parliament passes the bill and we get it and the CI is involved, then at the appropriate time we will let journalists know how and who can apply for the special voting.”
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah