The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has slammed the NDC minority in Parliament for boycotting the registration of the National Identification card, Ghana Card, questioning if the MPs were sleeping when the NIA law was passed.
The PPP said even though the minority reserves the right to raise concerns about restrictions in the identification requirements, it is scandalizing.
A statement released Tuesday, June 19 read, “We are scandalized by the attempt of the NDC Members of Parliament to scuttle this national exercise for the second time. In as much as the NDC MPs have the right to oppose the restriction of the identification requirements for registration to Passports and Birth Certificates, we believe the law was unanimously passed by MPs from both sides of the house”.
It further questioned where the NDC MPs were at the time the bill was being passed into law.
“The question is, were the NDC MPs asleep when they accepted the current four ways of proving citizenship?”
The National Identification Authority started the registration process for the Ghana Card MPs and staff of Parliament on Tuesday, June 12.
Read:NIA shocked at Minority’s stance on Ghana Card
The authority by law requires either a passport or a birth certificate as proof of citizenship but the Minority in Parliament raised concerns, arguing that the requirements will cause many Ghanaians to lose their citizenship.
The minority eventually boycotted the exercise insisting the NIA must accept voter’s ID as a proof of citizenship or it seek legal interpretation of the famous 2016 Supreme Court ruling in the Abu Ramadan vs Electoral Commission case.
In the said ruling, the apex court ordered EC to delete from the voters’ register the names of all persons who acquired voter’s IDs using National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards as proof of identity.
The PPP thinks the NIA cannot be faulted for applying a law that was passed by parliament. It therefore advises “Rather than boycotting the exercise, the NDC MPs still have an opportunity to amend the law by introducing a private members bill to seek to amend the law”.
Read: Denationalising Ghanaians: Minority boycotts NIA registration exercise
The PPP again express surprised that “the Hansard of Parliament which we have laid our hands on, at no point did the NDC MPs object to the proposed means of proofing citizenship” and described same as hypocrisy.
Read also: NIA sued
By P.D Wedam|3news.com|Ghana
The post Were NDC MPs asleep when NIA law was passed? – PPP slams minority appeared first on 3newsgh.
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