Deputy regional secretary for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Western North Region, Kojo Monney, stated that the difficulties with Ghana’s voter register ahead of the upcoming elections could have been avoided if the National Identification Authority (NIA) database had been used as the basis for the register.
During an appearance on Asaase Radio’s Big Bulletin on Saturday, 5 October, Monney contended that the current problems would not have arisen if the NIA database had been accepted and used as a reliable source.
Monney stated: “If we had decided to use the NIA database as the basis as enshrined by law and then we were to do the voter register out of the NIA database, all these things wouldn’t have [arisen].”
“Because the NIA database is linked to the death and births registry. So immediately somebody dies and then the person is recorded; it’s deleted within the NIA data.”
He added that by the time individuals who were too young to register during the initial NIA enrollment reach the age of 18, they would already be part of the system, simplifying the voter registration process.
“So if the system had been developed as I’m envisaging that on Monday, it will be talked about that when a person gets to 18 he gets a notification, he just walks to the EC and then takes the card and all these issues wouldn’t have been there,” Monney added.
On the other hand, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, a key member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), explained that there was no resistance to the use of the NIA database as the primary identification system for the country.
He pointed out that Ghana is set to eventually integrate the NIA database into the voter register, following guidance from the Supreme Court.
“I think that is a misconception; nobody has fought against the NIA being the mother database,” Addo said. “The Supreme Court, in its own decisions, has said that Ghana must come to the point where we have one central card for all manner of transactions; that’s a Supreme Court directive. It’s not something that anybody can argue against.”