A Senior Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba (Kumasi campus), Dr. Yarhands Dissou Arthur, has called for the scrapping of the nation’s Births and Deaths Registry should the Electoral Commission fail to accept birth certificates as evidence of citizenship in the forthcoming voter registration exercise.
According to him, the decision by the Ghana’s Elections management body (EC) to eliminate this primary document as proof of eligibility smacks of mischief calculated at disenfranchising many a Ghanaian. A move he described as unfathomable and must be fiercely resisted by all.
“This decision hatched by the EC is certainly illogical, unfortunate and must not be allowed to happen.” Dr.Arthur stressed.
He said, one of the cardinal functions for which the Births and Deaths Department has been established was to determine the true citizenship of individuals in the country. He was wondering why a passport procured through the birth certificate appears to become a supreme document for citizenship than the primary one (birth certificate) which majority of Ghanaians can produce without hustle.
The Statistics Lecturer, has called on the government of President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, to as a matter of principle, scrap the nation’s Births and Deaths Registry due to this singular decision by the EC to render the department’s certificates irrelevant.
“Of what use is that Department if by the actions of Jean Mensa and her team one is not qualified to be a Ghanaian after acquiring their certificate?” He questioned.
On the constitutionality of the Electoral Commission, the astute University Lecturer, is of the view that the Madam Jean Mensa led institution appears to be abusing its mandate and legimacy all in the name of autonomy enjoyed from the 1992 Constitution. He has therefore, admonished the Electoral Commission to operate an open door policy; engaging all the relevant stakeholders in an atmosphere of camaraderie so as to provide a free, fair, transparent and credible polls come December 2020.
The Electoral Commission has had to postpone indefinitely, plans to compile a new register for this year’s national polls. The postponement has been occasioned by the marauding effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which has plagued the entire world including Ghana.
While many Ghanains including leading Civil Society Groups such as Imani Africa have warned the EC against a new register, it appears all these calls have fallen on deaf ears. Although a new date is yet to be announced, sources say the EC is only waiting on a new Constitutional Instrument from parliament before commencing the registration process against all odds.
Source: www.Ghgossip.com
