The Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, has ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to take immediate steps to clean the current voters’ register by expunging names of persons who registered using the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards.
The court also ordered the EC to delete names of deceased persons as well as ineligible persons whose names are on the register.
The court however did not give the EC a specific timeline for the cleaning with barely six months to the polls.
The ruling follows a suit filed by a former National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, and one Evans Nimako. The two among other reliefs, wanted the current register declared inappropriate for the November polls.
[contextly_sidebar id=”GzcdfG32arzSheFrKZNOEXq78whgnT52″]While asking the EC to delete the names of those who registered with the NHIS cards, the court also asked the commission to allow such persons to re-register using the right procedure. The Court said it could not declare that the entire register is not credible due to a few persons who found their names in it.
Abu Ramadan’s suit
Abu Ramadan in the suit was seeking the following reliefs:
1. A declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 45(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992 (hereinafter, the “Constitution”) the mandate of the Electoral Commission of Ghana to compile the register of voters implies a duty to compile, fair and transparent register.
2. A declaration that the 2012 Voters Register which contains the names of persons who have not established qualification to be registered is inconsistent with Article 42 and 45 (a) and therefore unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect.
3. An order setting aside the 2012 Voters Register and compelling the Electoral Commission to compile fresh Voters Register before any new public election or referendum is conducted in this country. The Supreme Court a year ago ruled that the National Health Insurance card (NHIS) does not qualify anyone to be registered as a voter. That suit was filed by Abu Ramadan.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana