Minority Rescinds Decision to Sue NIA

Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi Constituency in the Volta Region, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has revealed that the Minority will rescind its decision to sue the National Identification Authority (NIA) because another institution has already sued it.

The Minority NDC had threatened to take legal action against the NIA after the latter excluded the use of voter ID card as a requirement for acquiring a national identification card referred to as Ghana Card but pressure group, Strategic Thinkers Network-Africa (STRANEK) has already filed a writ at the Supreme Court against the Authority.

According to the National Identification Amendment Law 2017 (Act 950), the card can only be acquired by persons with a Ghanaian passport, a birth certificate or having two Ghanaian witnesses.

The Minority who protested the requirements boycotted the registration of Members of Parliament (MPs) last Tuesday, and demanded that the Authority appeared before Parliament to respond to certain teething challenges.

But speaking in an interview, Mr. Dafeamekpor stated that there was no need for the Minority to file a suit against the NIA any longer.

The Minority is backing pressure group Strategic Thinkers Network-Africa (STRANEK) who has already filed a writ at the Supreme Court against the NIA for not accepting the Voters' ID as a proof of one's nationality to enable him or her to register for the Ghana Card.

Mr Dafeamekpor, who is also a member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, indicated that "once another institution has done what we were contemplating on doing, we can only support them".

"The NIA deceived the MPs when it told them that its inability to include other forms of identification - voter's ID, baptismal certificate, drivers license as a requirement for the Ghana Card registration was ordered by the Supreme Court.

"It was later revealed that the Supreme Court only made the order regarding the National Health Insurance Card and not the voter ID, they were not telling us the truth," Mr Dafeamekpor emphasised. -3news.com

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