A Ghanaian voter identification card showing a photo of an Asian man is being widely circulated online as proof of how foreigners can easily secure the national ID in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
A screenshot of the ID card shared on WhatsApp
On the popular messaging app, WhatsApp, the voter ID is being passed around and has some basic information about the holder including his name, gender, date of birth, date of issue, polling station name and so on.
This fact–check report will seek to verify the authenticity of the photo
Background
The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, on September 12, 2023, began a limited voter registration exercise in its District offices across the country despite opposition by some individuals and political parties.
The exercise, scheduled to end on October 2, 2023, seeks to register persons who turned 18 years old since the last registration in 2020 and people who could not participate during the compilation of the new register in 2020.
Fact-check
Checks by Radio Mak show that the voter ID card first appeared online during the 2020 voter registration exercise on June 30, 2020, and August 6, 2020, leading to the general elections in December of that same year.
On July 16, 2020, the Electoral Commission of Ghana issued a debunk indicating the photo of the Asian man seen on the viral ID Card was photoshopped.
A screenshot of a statement from the EC describing the ID as fake
The Electoral Commission merged the photo of the original holder of the Voter ID Card and that of the alleged Asian man, which bore the same details but different picture backgrounds and faces.
“The Commission did not issue the card to the Asian male. The card was originally issued to Nana Kweku Okai Brako. All the photographs on the EC Voters ID cards have a blue background. In the photoshopped ID card, the background of the photograph with the Asian male is cream. We call on the public to disregard it,” the official statement from the Electoral Commission said.
This report was compiled as part of efforts by the Ghana Fact-Checking Network to curb the spread of mis/disinformation. The Ghana Fact-Checking Network is a collaboration of more than 100 journalists from 35 partner newsrooms.
