Former Attorney General and private legal practitioner, Ayikoi Otoo, is questioning the credibility of the list of 56,000 names presented to the Supreme Court by the Electoral Commission, as the full list of persons whose names were captured onto the voters’ register, with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card as proof of Ghanaian citizenship.
Ayikoi Otoo, speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue, wondered whether those who worked on the processes were diligent enough to compile all the names of persons who registered with NHIS cards.
[contextly_sidebar id=”3S1xHWVJ84Q0SuYCPGAqCpmFa1bfGLrI”]“The question is how credible are those who actually worked on the processes?Have they done diligent work?Were they under pressure to produce the numbers because they had a limited period within which to act?Again why has the EC found it so difficult from 2014 till now before coming out with this figure.”
“A lowly figure of 56,000 when the first time this figure came out we saw a whole lot of figures being churned out by some media houses… ?Again when they were given time to go and study the report and give their response, they actually came back to say that some of the reports did not have vital information which raises doubt about whether these are real figures so you cannot brush aside the issues the petitioners are raising,” the lawyer argued.
Ayikoi Otoo believes that those who were tasked to compile the names of persons who registered with NHIS cards, should be given more time to do a better job.
“The very people who were involved in the exercise should come out to say that we were compelled to do this thing at a very short notice, we were compelled to come out with something so we just have to comply, but indeed we are satisfied that given more time we could do something better.”
Abu Ramadan’s lawyers reject NHIS voters’ list
On Thursday, Lawyers for Abu Ramadan, former National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), rejected the 56,000 list of names presented to the Supreme Court.
The lawyers, led by Frank Davies, described the figure as spurious explaining that the list on the face of the document provided showed 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
Meanwhile the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, has challenged the People’s National Convention’s (PNC) Abu Ramadan, to furnish the Electoral Commission with names of people who registered with NHIS cards ahead of the 2012 elections, since they claim 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: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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