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“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is still at post because Ghana is not a serious country. He should be impeached if Ghana was a serious country for saying birth certificates and passports are the most credible elements that can depict ones identity than any other documents," asserts a leading member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a former aide to ex-Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.

Voicing his disagreement to the president’s remarks, Alhaji Halidu Haruna, contributing to a panel discussion on UTV’s "Adekye Nsroma" show, stated that if President Akufo-Addo claims birth certificates and passports are “more important than any other Ghanaian document”, then he is an “illegitimate President”.

“…. since he has rejected the identity card which gave him the authority to rule over the affairs of Ghanaians,” he stated.

Haruna, who was the NDCs Parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma Central in the 2016 General Elections, vowed never to register under the Ghana card until the party's grievances are met.

“Until this issue is resolved, I will not under any circumstance register with any card apart from the voters’ ID card even though I have the other cards required for the process. Who said the required cards for the Ghana card cannot be manipulated”

A furious Alhaji Haruna then added “Nobody can question my citizenship; therefore I will prefer to go to jail because I am fighting for my rights as a citizen”.

BACKGROUND                                                                                 

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the 14th Graduation Ceremony of the Ashesi University at Brekusu near Accra called on the Minority in parliament to stop politicizing the national identity registration process and provide the needed support for the initiative.

“I certainly have no interest, and no intention to prevent genuine citizens from being issued with identity cards. But, my oath of office is unequivocal that I owe it to the nation to uphold the law and protect our institutions from being undermined.

“I do not think that there are more credible, basic, documentary requirements for establishing nationality or citizenship than a birth certificate or a passport. An appropriate, acceptable mechanism has been provided in the law to verify the claims of those who have neither."

The President said, “I maintain that it should be the greatest honour to be able to say I am a Ghanaian, and we should have no difficulty in identifying a Ghanaian not only as a legal entity, but also through his or her behavior”.

“There is a legal definition of who is a Ghanaian, and I pray that we abandon giving politics a bad name, and support this exercise to proceed rapidly to a successful end."