Minority fails to shoot down C.I 126

The ruckus about whether or not to adopt the Electoral Commission’s (EC) C.I 126 was battled out and brought to an end through a process of voting yesterday in Parliament.
Per the number of Members of Parliament who were in the House during the process, 106 members from the Majority side voted for the adoption of the C.I 126, while 92 from the Minority voted against it.
The Public Elections (Registration of Voters) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, (C.I.126) seeks to amend regulation 1(3) of C.I.9.1 by excluding the use of a driver’s license as a requirement for the registration of a voter.
The position of the EC under the regulation is that a citizen of Ghana, who intends to register as a voter, would have to prove his or her citizenship by providing, either a Passport, National Identification Card (the Ghana Card), or fill a Voter Registration Identification Guarantee Form proving that the person is a citizen of Ghana.
While the Majority and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are fully in support of the regulation, the Minority and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have shot down the idea since its announcement by the EC.
Therefore, the Speaker of Parliament, Prof Aaron Michael Oquaye, charged the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, which is being chaired by Dr Dominic Akuritinga Anyine, to work on the C.I and present a report to Parliament in accordance with practices of the House.
The committee presented its report yesterday, and according to the Chairman, it examined the constitutional instrument within the ambit of the general objects of the Constitution, and was of the view that the rationale for the instrument was in accordance with the powers of the Constitution under Article 51, with respect to the complication of a credible and widely accepted voter register for the conduct of public elections and referenda in the country.
However, the Committee could not arrive at a consensus as to whether or not the exclusion of a driver’s licence and the existing voter identification card from the C.I 126 was constitutional, Mr Anyine said.
He, therefore, indicated that the Committee, by a majority decision, recommended to the House to adopt the report and allow the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) (Amendment) Regulations, 2002 ( C.I 126) to come into force at the expiration of twenty-one sitting days, in accordance with Article 11( 7) of the Constitution.
The Speaker, after giving the opportunity to some members to make comments on the report per Parliaments Standing Orders, threw the question for members to either accept or reject the Committee’s recommendation.
The Majority, with a loud voice, responded in favour of the motion, while the Minority also responded in the negative.
However, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader in Parliament, implored the Speaker to allow the House to vote on the issue due the importance placed on it. The Leader indicated that the House should be made to vote for the purposes of history and posterity.
“Mr Speaker, as I indicated to you, this is an important Constitutional matter, so I intend to invoke Order 113 (2) of our Standing Orders and to ask for a division on this matter. This is because we want history and prosperity to be the judge in this matter. So, Mr Speaker, I am asking for a division on this matter so that the record will show that on this fateful day, this is the number of Ghanaians who said that accept only passport and NIA card. ”
The Speaker then granted the Minority Leaders request and allowed the members to decide on the issue through a process of voting indicating that it will allow Ghanaians to know clearly the position of their representatives.
After the voting had ended, the Speaker in giving his concluding remarks indicated that the constitution provides that regulation comes into force at the expiration of twenty-one sitting days in accordance with Article 11(7).
The Minority Leader, who also gave his concluding remarks, said: “I don’t intend to go into the matter. The records will speak for Ghana’s democracy that this is where we stood and took a decision that only passport and National Identification cards should be documents for registration of voters for the conduct of elections, and added that history and posterity will be a better judge.”
Meanwhile, the EC, in a latest release, has indicated that the 2020 Voters Registration Exercise has been scheduled to commence on Tuesday, June 30.
The letter, which was signed by Dr Bossman E. Asare, Deputy Chairman, Corporate Affairs at the EC, said that the registration will be held at all registration centers and district offices of the EC throughout the country.

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