Political parties with no representation in Parliament have censured the Minority in Parliament for foiling the passage of the new Constitutional Instrument (CI) laid by the Electoral Commission (EC).
They have condemned tactics by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament for obstructing and frustrating the EC in delivering its mandate.
The EC is seeking Parliament to pass the new CI which proposes Ghana card to be used as the only proof of nationality for voter registration.
The CI is also seeking the House to scrap the guarantor system and limit continued registration to district offices of the EC.
Meanwhile, the Minority has kicked against the CI that seeks to make the Ghana card the sole source document for registration of the voter cards.
They are demanding the EC to use the existing CI 91 and 126 to conduct the upcoming voter registration exercise since the proposals in the new one will disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.
However, the group made up of the General Secretaries of the smaller political parties have strongly indicated their support for the EC to engage Parliament to reject claims by the Minority caucus.
General Secretary of Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Jerry Owusu Appeah who addressed a press conference on Monday, March 13, 2023, espoused that the proposals in the CI have been discussed and accepted at an lnter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings.
He noted the NDC MP’s are doing a disservice to the country by kicking against the CI after failing to attend IPAC meetings for the past two years.
“We wish to inform the general public, especially the teeming supporters of the NDC that their leadership are doing them a great disservice”.
“The CI was discussed openly at IPAC for almost a year and each party or representative of a political party, civil society organisation had the opportunity to contribute to the discussion,” he reiterated.
He has thus entreated the general public and the Legislature to ignore the claims by the Minority against the new CI to allow the EC carry its mandate successfully for a credible polls in 2024.
