The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) to the Supreme Court over the compilation of a new Voters Register.
The NDC is praying the court for an order directed at the EC, to include "all existing voter identification cards duly issued by the 2nd Defendant (EC) as one of the documents serving as proof of identification for registration as a voter for the purposes of public elections".
In a writ invoking the original jurisdiction of the court, the NDC is seeking a true and proper interpretation of Article 45(a) of the 1992 Constitution, on whether the EC has "the constitutional power to, and can, compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law".
It is also further seeking a declaration on whether the EC "can only revise the existing register of voters, and lacks the power to prepare a fresh register of voters, for the conduct of the December 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections".
The NDC holds that "declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of the provisions of the Constitution, specifically article 51 read conjointly with article 42 of the Constitution, the power of the EC to compile and review the voters’ register must be exercised subject to respect for and the protection of the right to vote".
It is also seeking a "declaration that, upon a true and proper interpretation of the provisions of the Constitution, particularly article 42, upon the registration of and issuance of a voter identification card to a person, that person has an accrued right to vote which cannot be divested in an arbitrary and capricious manner".
A declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of the provisions of the Constitution, particularly Article 42 of the Constitution, all existing voter identification cards duly issued by the 2nd Defendant to registered voters are valid for purposes of identifying such persons in the exercise of their right to vote.
The plaintiff is further seeking a "declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of the Constitution, specifically Article 42, the 2nd Defendant’s purported amendment of Regulation 1 sub regulation 3 of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I 91) through the Public Elections (Registration of Voters)(Amendment) Regulations, 2020 to exclude existing voter identification cards as proof of identification to enable a person apply for registration as a voter is unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
"A declaration that the 2nd Defendant (EC), in purporting to exercise its powers pursuant to article 51 of the 1992 Constitution to exclude the existing voter identification cards from the documents required as proof of identification to enable a person register as a voter without any justification is arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and contrary to article 296 of the 1992 Constitution;
“A declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of the Constitution specifically Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution, proof of identification for registration as a voter should not be limited by the provisions of Public Elections (Registration of Voters) (Amendment) Regulations, 2020;"
It also "order or orders as this Honorable Court would deem fit in the circumstances".
The Attorney General and the EC have 14 days to file their response.
Source: GNA
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I was fortunate enough to have read some law courses for 3 academic years during my UCC Bcom programme. What does the law say in relation to Citizenship? Article 6 to 10 of the Constitution of Ghana defines who a Citizen is. Again Citizenship Act, 2000 says a person acquires citizenship of Ghana by BIRTH, MARRIAGE, ADOPTION, OR NATURALIZATION. EC may have a good intention, but no where is the Ghanaian Constitution does it says having a Passport or Ghana Card would show that you are a citizen of Ghana. Denying a Ghanaian Citizen the right to register and vote, on the basis that s/he does not have a Ghana Card or a Passport is null and void. It is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
This is nothing but NDC delay tactics!!!!
If you want to see a bad and incompetent leader, look at the people he leads and those he influence to perform a task. This is the first time in John Mahama's career that he is standing to be elected as president on his own accord, not on the death of John mills . This calls for planning, strategy, ideas, vision with regards to modern trends and where the country wants to go. It's clear that we want a leader who has a clear vision, who is 100% patriotic, who has deep knowledge about our issues and search for modern methods to solve them with specific objective of better life for all. Methods that are backed by common sense, science and data. Mahama lacks all of these qualities. When put on the spot to lead his own party, organise a team to think and plan a better alternative in-case they come to office, he lazily takes the easiest and dangerous path of breeding weak minds, lazy minds, visionless minds, unpatriotic people, backward thinkers, selfish individuals, who's only job is to design canning ways of getting what they want. So I'm not surprised we are seeing such manifestation, AS A MAN THINKS, SO IS HE. YOU ARE WHAT YOU TRUELY THINK. And for all those people he is using to achieve his dubious objective, have they thought of posterity. Young able men and women in ndc, having a great opportunity to serve your nation, do you want to be influenced by such values and thoughts or you believe that you serve better and that you will fight for? If the youngs in NDC are been fed with such poison to follow and do without thinking and questioning about its implication on the country and their lives then I'm afraid of the future of the party. We in a modern world with so many tech solutions to cure all the fears they seem to have, why not learn about such tools and use them? And focus more on the ideas and alternative solutions to transform Ghana even further because regardless who comes into power we know where we want to be but does NDC have the plan to take us there?
This is the mark of a very confused and desperate party. The NDC is not sure what exactly they are seeking to achieve. In one breath, they don't want the register to be compiled. In another, they want ALL voter identification cards to be included as self-identification to compile the register. What kind of party is this la? They are afraid of being exposed over those huge numbers they've been recording in Ketu North and south and other areas in the Volta region. FIRE BURN THESE GUYS!
Kudos to the EC for her determination to produce a new and more credible Voters' register, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. To be honest, if EC fails to do so, I would be very much disappointed because of the NDC's stance against the new register. And I'm very confident the EC-Boss, whom I affectionately call Jean, a woman of formidable intelligence will successfully produce a new and more credible register for mother Ghana. Let the NDC beat the war drums on the side of the coronavirus and the EC will work assiduously within the restrictions of the COVID- 19 protocols. Jean will make mother Ghana proud! The bottom line is the NDC cannot fathom to come in terms with the EC-Boss who is not elected by the NDC-Administration to produce a credible register. The psyche is that the NDC-Administration had never produced a credible register before.
Even the lawyers who prepared this writ know very well the court will throw away their case in the bin. Just watch this space. The court will use just one statement to throw away this case, NDC/petitioners have failed to exhaust the powers of the EC which has the mandate and independence of election matters.
Oh NDC, desperation for power will kill you people. The Supreme court have the answers already. Godfred Odame alone is going to embarrass NDC lawyers in court. Names of NDC legal team are Ayine,Amailaba, Baba Jamal and Kwabena Akando a.k.a dinning hall prefect laughable !!!!
THE NATIONAL I.D. CARD IS THE BASIC DOCUMENT OF IDENTIFICATION IN ALL PROGRESSIVE AND DEVELOPED NATIONS. BY EXTENSION, THE NATIONAL I.D. INCLUDES THE PASSPORT OF A PARTICULAR NATION. IT IS THE REQUIRED STANDARD IN EVERY NATION TO OBTAIN THE NATIONAL I.D. AS A PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP EITHER BY BIRTH OR THROUGH PARENTS OR BY NATURALIZATION. WITH THE PHOTO OF THE PERSON AND OTHER FEATURES, THE NATIONAL I.D. BECOMES THE STANDARD SOURCE OF IDENTIFICATION BY WHICH ALL OTHER I.D. CARDS ARE DERIVED. SUCH OTHER I.D. CARDS INCLUDE DRIVING, EMPLOYMENT, VOTING, AND MANY OTHERS WHICH ARE CONNECTED TO THIS BASIC NATIONAL I.D. AS TIME GOES ON THE PROCESS TO ACQUIRE THE NATIONAL I.D. SHOULD BECOME REGULAR AT THE DEPARTMENT DESIGNATED FOR THAT PURPOSE. CONTAINING THE DATE OF BIRTH AND PHYSICAL ADDRESS THE NATIONAL I.D. SHOULD AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTS AN INDIVIDUAL AS A QUALIFIED VOTER AT A DESIGNATING POLLING STATION. SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE ARE GOING TO USE THE NATIONAL I.D. AS THE SOURCE DOCUMENT TO OBTAIN THE VOTERS CARD, THE OLD VOTERS CARD WHICH EXISTED BEFORE GHANA CARD AND THEREFORE NOT CONNECTED TO IT CANNOT BE ACCEPTED AS A PRIMARY CARD TO THE VOTER'S CARD. HENCE, IT IS NOT PIRATICAL AND REASONABLE TO USE THE OLD VOTERS CARD FOR THE NEW CARD. AS TIME GOES BY AN OLD VOTERS CARD COULD BECOME USEFUL TO RETRIEVE SOME INFORMATION FROM THE GHANA CARD BECAUSE IT WOULD BE CONNECTED TO IT. IN VIEW OF SUCH DEVELOPMENT THE ADMISSION OF REFEREES TO VOUCH FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO DO NOT HAVE GHANA CARD NOR PASSPORT CANNOT BE ENTERTAINED FOR LONG . THE PRACTICE SHOULD NOT BE ENTERTAINED BEYOND THE DECEMBER 2020 ELECTIONS, AS WE THRIVE TO MEET GLOBALLY ACCEPTABLE STANDARD. THE RULE OF THE RIGHT TO VOTE DOES NOT ANYWHERE NEGATE THE EFFORT OF THE INDIVIDUALS TO PROVE THEIR IDENTITY AS CITIZENS. ALL NEED TO SATISFY THE THE STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.
Oh but any Stu.piidd fuulll can go to court !!! Well we’re not going to fly on Airbus with an incompetent pilot 👩✈️ through dumso to IMF anymore when babies 👶 with sharp teeth 🦷 are on board and land us on Woyomey’s backyard. I know there could be FORD EXPEDITION to take us by land but we will rather prefer bus 🚌 branding driven by Ativor in the middle of berko power bribery crisis which indicates government official 1 on the way to Police 👮♀️ CID with the summons of Abronye DC concerning the death of Prof Evans Atta-Mills. NDC YAAMUTU
Nine move. This is what some of us were asking NDC to do instead of threatening the EC and Ghana. Let us wait for supreme court verdict then we can all follow for peace in mother Ghana.