Imani Boss Appluads- Afari-Gyan, Kennedy Agyapong For Rejecting EC’s Ghana Card C.I

Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, the Founding President of Imani Africa, has expressed his appreciation for Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the former Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC), and Kennedy Agyapong, a Member of Parliament for Assin Central, for their stance against the EC’s proposed Constitutional Instrument (CI) which aims to establish the Ghana Card as the exclusive identification document for voter registration.

In a statement to the state-owned Daily Graphic, Dr. Afari-Gyan argued that the Electoral Commission’s stance on the guarantor system, which claims it is not secure enough and thus advocates for the Ghana Card as the only registration document, is not feasible.

Dr. Afari-Gyan argued that the National Identification Authority (NIA) has already permitted the use of a guarantor system during registration for the Ghana Card, which means that there is no reason why the Electoral Commission cannot adopt a similar approach for voter registration and enhance the security measures as desired. He posed a question, asking why the commission cannot establish a guarantor system in the upcoming constitutional instrument (CI) that is as strong or even stronger than the one utilized by the NIA for the Ghana Card.

Mr. Kennedy Agyapong also criticized the decision of the Electoral Commission to mandate the Ghana Card as the only identification document for voter registration, calling it baseless. Speaking on Sompa FM in Kumasi over the weekend, Mr. Agyapong, who is vying to become the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer, expressed his opposition to the decision, stating, “I am against it. Ghana has people taking bogus decisions. We have a valid Ghanaian passport, yet the EC claims that it cannot be used for voter registration. How can I prove my Ghanaian citizenship? It is through my passport.”

Commenting on these, Mr Franklin Cudjoe said “Yet another sensible patriot, Dr. Afari Gyan, the emeritus Chair of Ghana’s Electoral Commission rejects the EC’s decision to ditch the guarantor system. IMANI supports this action as well as that of Kennedy Agyapong.”