President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured the leaders and people of the Volta Region that he is not interested in disenfranchising them.

According to President Akufo-Addo, claims by some legislators of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the purpose of the National Identification Cards is to disenfranchise some Ghanaians, particularly those from the Volta Region is completely false.

President Akufo-Addo made the comment on Monday, July 9, 2018, when he commissioned the Anlo Shopping Centre, at the commencement of his 3-day tour of the Volta Region.

He noted that Parliament has passed a law, the contents of which are merely being implemented by the National Identification Authority.

The President said; “NIA has not refused anything other than what Parliament passed. The legislation that is insisting on passports and birth certificates is not the work of NIA, it is the work of Parliament. It is the law passed by Parliament. So, statements that the NIA is deliberately refusing this or that is unfortunate. It means the person or those who are saying this are not familiar with the legal situation,”.

He continued, “I have no interest in disenfranchising any Ghanaian. The card is meant for Ghanaians, and that is why Parliament, with the full support of both sides of the house, the minority and majority, supported the new law that is being applied by the NIA. So, it is unfortunate that some people are approving and disapproving their own work.”

He noted, therefore, that there is no justification for anyone, let alone Minority MPs, to “come back and then say these particular people are doing this to disenfranchise x, y or z persons. We are not disenfranchising anybody. If you don’t have a birth certificate, passport, all you have to do is to produce a Ghanaian to vouch for you, and you get your card.”

The NIA card, the President stressed, is needed for “our planning and for the organisation of our state”, assuring that “by the grace of God, it (the issuance of the NIA cards) will be completed in Akufo-Addo’s time.”