Prof. Kenneth Attafuah, the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), has announced that the Electoral Commission (EC) can utilize the data from the National Identity Register for the upcoming December polls.
He made this statement during the launch of the Ghana Card Number at Birth initiative, by the Flagbearer of the National Patriotic Party and Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, on Thursday, March 14 at the Ga North Hospital in Ofankor, Greater Accra Region.
Attafuah expressed his excitement over the registration of over 17.8 million Ghanaians onto the National Identity register, noting that this milestone marked a significant shift in the country’s voter identification process.
He emphasized the importance of the National Identity Register and the personal identification numbers that are now being assigned to every child born in the country.
He declared that with this critical milestone, disputes regarding age and citizenship would become a thing of the past, paving the way for a cleaner and more transparent national election.
“I’m particularly happy that with the registration of over 17. 8 million Ghanaians onto the National Identity Register of Ghanaians aged 15 and above, we now begin to look at the base. Your excellency, today, commencing today, the personal identification number will be given to every child born in this country, I mean every Ghanaian. So permit me to conclude by saying that with this critical milestone beginning today, contestations about age, contestations about citizenship will all be a thing of the past.
“As we say football age will no longer exist and with that all the other falsehoods, all the other centres of contentions will begin to evaporate. Our national election will be cleaner. We should be able, indeed, in my personal view, we should be able, beginning this year, to rely on the National Identity register to vote as Ghanaians because we have the cleanest in our history and our future.”
