The President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, has suggested that the 56,000 names presented by the Electoral Commission (EC) to the Supreme Court as the full list of Ghanaians who used National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards as proof of citizenship to register ahead of the 2012 elections, may not be credible.
According to him, the EC presented the 56,000 as the number of NHIS registrants just to meet the Supreme Court’s six day deadline.
On Thursday, the EC presented 56,000 names, as ordered by the court, as the full list of Ghanaians who were captured onto the voters’ register using the NHIS card, as proof of Ghanaian citizenship ahead of the 2012 elections.
[contextly_sidebar id=”K1w6PMqFIg51Vwx2aXpgrCXzKlFqfvSn”]The Supreme Court believes this will enable it reach some resolution in the case in which a former People’s National Convention (PNC) Youth Organizer, Abu Ramadan, is pushing for the deletion of such names from the register to make it more credible.
Speaking on The Big Issue, Mr. Cudjoe argued that the number of NHIS registrants should far exceed the 56,000 presented by the EC because of the surge in the number of NHIS card holders in the last few years.
“Between 2011 and 2012 alone, there was an eight per cent jump in the records of the numbers that use NHIA cards,” he noted.
More people are likely to register with the NHIS card than any other form of identification according to the IMANI Ghana President, hence his conclusion that“the 56,000 in actual fact just for NHIS, I doubt it.”
“By that plausible understanding alone, I have my doubts. This is plausible doubt. 56,000 alone? Are they suggesting the rest registered with passports or they registered with diving licenses? How many people drive?” Mr. Cudjoe queried further.
Abu Ramadan’s lawyers reject NHIS voters’ list of 56,000
Lawyers for Abu Ramadan, rejected the list of 56,000 persons presented to the Supreme Court by the Electoral Commission.
The lawyers, led by Frank Davies, described the figure as spurious, according to Citi News’ Fred Djabanor.
According to Mr. Davies, the list on the face of the document provided shows that it has been conjectured. Arguing his case, he told the Supreme Court that the primary document which the Electoral Commission claimed to have derived the list from, did not have any portion for registrants to indicate which IDs they were using to register.
CJ dares Abu Ramadan to provide EC with ‘NHIS voters’ list
The Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, subsequently challenged the People’s National Convention’s (PNC) Abu Ramadan, to furnish the EC with names of people who registered with NHIS cards ahead of the 2012 elections, since they claimed the EC’s figure of 56,000 is spurious.
According to the Chief Justice, the process of providing a credible register for the elections is a shared responsibility and not one to be left solely for the EC to do.
The Chief Justice’s comment follows the objection raised by lawyers for the former PNC youth organizer over the credibility of the list presented by the EC, and their claim that more people registered with NHIS cards.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana