The National
Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the National Identification Authority
(NIA) of aiding the Electoral Commission to rig the 2024 general election
through data suppression.
These claims
arise from the EC’s commitment to using the Ghana Card as the exclusive
document for voter registration in the upcoming election.
According to the
NDC, the NIA is not facilitating the registration of the cards in certain parts
of the country, as they claim that many NIA offices have been closed in some
districts.
In an interview
with Citi News in Accra on Wednesday, Mustapha Gbande, the Deputy General
Secretary of the NDC, said the NIA is charging GHS280 for premium service in
certain regions, which contradicts the fact that the Ghana Card is a public
document that should be accessible to all Ghanaians.
“As we speak
today, NIA is in certain regions undertaking premium express service and you
are required to pay about 280 before you can be given a Ghana card. In this
economy when people cannot even get food to eat.
“At this time
when the issue of Ghana card has become so important how do we then say that it
is a public service or document when the whole intent of the institution that
is supposed to be giving that service is rather trying to make profit and
commercialise it. Ghanaians cannot have access to the registration, they cannot
afford it yet we are supposed to feel that it is a public document.”
Mr Gbande said
the NIA was only engaged in an exercise that was geared at preventing Ghanaians
from registering for the Ghana card.
“We also feel
that the NIA is deliberating doing that to allow for data suppression so that
if it becomes the only document for registration to acquire a voter ID card
then that data have been suppressed would have affected the election of 2024,”
he added.
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