A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is misleading Ghanaians about the requirements for the Ghana Card.

The largest opposition party says the government wants to de-nationalise Ghanaians by making birth certificate and passport the main requirements for the card.

“I don’t know the illogical and shortsighted and a very strong symbol of incompetence that you can’t think far and see that on the basis of what you have prescribed as criteria for qualification of national ID card you are going to disenfranchise more than 20 million of our citizens and that is unacceptable and so the NDC is going to do everything to fight for the best interest of the majority of the people to make sure they are going to be identified to be given cards so that they can be identified as bonafide Ghanaians.

“The NDC will fight on the side of majority of Ghanaians to ensure that they are identified as Ghanaians and that nobody is denationalized because of this process. This is a deliberate attempt to denationalize some of our people and we shall not accept it. We will use every legitimate instrument that is possible under a democracy to ensure that every Ghanaians is able to register,” former president John Mahama said at the party’s Unity Walk in the Volta region over the weekend.

Reacting to the claims, Mr. Asare Otchere-Darko stated it is “a silly lie” since the law has provided for those without passport or birth certificate to obtain the Ghana Card.

“John Mahama and the Minority are speaking against the National ID registration. Anokwa! For 8yrs they spent money every year on the NIA but were not able to issue a single ID for any Ghanaian. Yep! Talk about waste and incompetence,” the former head of pro-NPP research outfit Danquah Institute posted on Facebook.

He added: “Now, they say they are boycotting the registration exercise and they are doing so with a silly lie that only Ghanaians with a birth certificate or passport are allowed to register so it will de-nationalise Ghanaians. That is not true! If you don’t have a passport or a birth certificate you can still go to the registration point with a family member (a Ghanaian) to vouch for you and You will be free to register.

“Even if you were so so unlucky that at the time of your birth every single member of your clan were at the village for the celebration and all of them (bar none) were hit by a huge asteroid and died instantly, leaving you alone, you can still show up with two Ghanaians to vouch for you for you to register and pick up your ID card free. So, let’s ask them, who are the NDC actually fighting for – certainly not Ghanaians? Please, while at it, ask the NDC to refund every pesewa they spent in 8yrs on the NIA without producing one ID card for any Ghanaian. That should shut them up – I hope.”

Meanwhile, the Minority members in Parliament have stated that they will boycott the planned registration of Parliamentarians by the NIA for the new Ghana Card.

A statement signed by Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu stated that the decision was taken due to the failure of the NIA to engage Members of Parliament to clarify a number of issues relating to the roll out of the exercise.

The minority is also raising questions about the cost, scope and legality of the project as well as registration requirements.

According to the minority members, until those issues are cleared by the NIA, they will not take part in the planned registration.