A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the La Dadekotopon constituency, TT Caternor, has said that, there will not be a way the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) would be allowed by the good people of Ghana to compile a new voters register using the Ghana Crad being compiled by the National Identification Authority (NIA). In a write-up, the experienced politician advised the Jean Mensah led EC to be careful with the tangent on which it is going.
Below is the full details.
Jean Mensah, I don’t have a Ghana Card. Can I vote? TT Caternor asks
Jean Adukwei Mensah, I am told I can’t vote by virtue of a New CI being laid in Parliament.
I have to vote on 7th December, 2020 at all cost. My vote is my RIGHT.
Some of us have been registered voters since 1992 until 2016. Where did we go wrong to be handed down this kind of punishment from the Electoral Commission aided by the National Identification Authority?
Do we have different classes of Ghanaian citizens in this country? Hell, no. Some people have been registered and they have received their cards. Some people also registered and still haven’t received thier cards, and some of us didn’t get the opportunity to register at all. What do we do?
Now, the Ghana Card is becoming a mandatory identification to be called a Ghanaian. Since when?
How did the NIA card replace the Voters Identity Card in the 1992 Constitution? This is incredible and ridiculous.
It is unambiguous and clear that the NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo is hell bent on carrying through the registration and compilation of a new voters register.
So what do we do because we do not have the Ghana Card?
Do we simply throw our hands in the air or give up on the impending elections and go to sleep?
That will be suicidal because that is the only option available to some of us that don’t have Ghana Cards.
Mensah Thompson of ASEPA put out a detailed report a few weeks ago about the NIA registration figures against eligible voters who voted in 2016.
I still can’t comprehend with such malicious acts meted to innocent Ghanaians, because reports gathered by ASEPA state that Greater Accra had a deficit of 46,846 voters, Western Region and Western North have a deficit of 276,570 voters, Central Region has a deficit of 323,379 voters, Northern Region, North East Region and Savannah Region have a deficit of 141,116 voters, Upper East Region has a deficit of 246,440 voters, Upper West Region has a deficit of 148,043 voters, Bono East, Bono and Ahafo Region have a deficit of 290,215 voters, but they have increased the Ashanti Region by 290,651 voters. Why these wide discrepancies?
The registration systems mobilized for the exercise were never faulty when they reached Ashanti and Eastern Regions but all other Regions had daily challenges.
We are just asking Jean Mensah that is it really her plan to disenfranchise some Ghanaian citizens?
This country has laws that govern us, so the laws must work. But here we are.
A bunch of cronies are appointed and packed up in the Courts to give judgements that depict how their wives treat them at home. This can not be an acceptable way to go.
I can see a clear plan to disenfranchise myself and some people. Now, I understand the famous statement from the Majority Leader in Parliament. He stated that the NDC will surely lose the elections if the Electoral Commission goes ahead to do a new register.
Honourable Kennedy Adjepong has also stated that the NPP already has 1.5 million voters with the new register.
These people who have spoken are WHISTLE BLOWERS and we just have to follow their leads to reject the new register.
In a beautiful piece written by Hon. Inusah Fuseini, he stated that legally, the 1992 Constitution and its framers contemplated the compilation of a register for the purposes of public elections in Ghana.
That the register will contain the names of persons who are otherwise qualified to vote in public elections.
The criteria for qualification as a voter are provided in the Constitution. And just like the Constitution, a voter register is a living document. Citizens of Ghana whose names are on the register can die and so those names will have to be removed. Citizens who come of age, that is when they turn eighteen and are of sound mind are entitled to be put on the register for the purposes of participating in public elections. That is why the Constitution has given the EC the power to review the register from time to time and in accordance with law.
Jean Mensah and the EC appear to have lost sight of this constitutional provision by citing previous compilations of the register as justification for the exercise they are about to undertake. But the previous compilations in the past years have facts that are distinguishable from this current exercise.
Jean Mensah’s EC and the NPP had evil machinations, and sought to recruit the assistance of the National Identification Authority to scheme for the NPP.
They have planned and executed foul means of denying some Ghanaians the opportunity to possess the National Identification Card (Ghana Card) issued by the NIA, and this will not give them the opportunity to vote on 7th December 2020.
Jean Mensah is chewing more than she can swallow and the earlier she stopped the better.
I want to vote come 7th December, 2020, and I know there are other people who have been disenfranchised like me.
Source: TT Caternor II Contributor II ghananewsonline.com.gh