A legal team member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is upset with the final verdict of the Apex Court between his party and the Electoral Commission (EC) over the compilation of a new voters’ register.
Baba Jamal in an interview with NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’ repeatedly described the ruling as ‘bogus’ and ‘manipulated’ to suit the EC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Electoral Commission should go ahead and compile a new voters' register.
The seven-member panel of Justices presided over by Chief Justice Anin Yeboah gave the ruling on Thursday, 25th June 2020.
The others include; Justices Jones Dotse, Paul Baffoe Bonnie, Sule Gbagegbe, Samuel K. Marful-Sau, Nene Amegatcher, and Professor Ashie Kotey.
Inconsistency and confusion
According to him, the court has managed to confuse the NDC with its bias verdict which they (NDC) are not content with.
“We [NDC] are not happy with the ruling and we have every right to disagree with the Court. I know government manipulated this ruling. This is bad and it’s going to affect this country. The ruling is full of inconsistency and confusion,” he told host Mac Jerry Osei Agyemang.
NDC, other parties claim victor after ruling
However, the parties involved in the case, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and private citizen Mark Takyi-Banson on the one hand, and the election management body on the other, are both claiming victory as far as their positions on whether or not the old voter ID card should be used for the compilation, is concerned.
The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, told journalists after the verdict that Supreme Court ruled in the party’s favour while Deputy Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame also said the EC’s position was upheld.
Confusion
Journalists in the court were left confused by the Supreme Court ruling as far as the old voter ID card issue is concerned.
The lawyers from both parties, according to reporters, were seeking clarification from the Justices.
Background
Mr. Takyi-Banson sued the EC for excluding the current voter ID card from the upcoming registration exercise.
Parliament recently passed the Public Election (Amendment) Regulation, 2020 (C.I. 126) to amend C.I.91 making the passport and Ghana card as the only breeder documents that can be used to register as a voter.
Mr. Takyi-Banson prayed the court to grant an order directing that C.I.126 violates the provisions of article 42 and 45 of the 1992 Constitution to the extent that it excludes Birth Certificates issued to Ghanaians as a mode of identification and establishing qualification to be registered in the register of voters.
The plaintiff also sought a similar relief for the voter ID card as well as a declaration that the Electoral Commission’s decision to compile a new register of voters is “inconsistent with and a violation of article 45(a) of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana.”
Mr. Takyi-Banson’s case was consolidated with that of the NDC, which had earlier dragged the EC to the apex court over the same issue.
Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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NDC is talking about what they probably did or tried to do in the 2012 presidential petition where mahama was allowed to stay though he lost the votes . the court siad they cannot remove a sitting president. Can you imagine if it was NDC was the party leading the petition ? unlike Nana who was calm hell would have broken lose in their ranks
Th court ruling to me was fantastic, my only problem is about the pandemic. This current register is bloated, full of foreigners and minors. The NDC held a press conference on 26/06/2020 saying, they don't understand why the government has sent soldiers to guild all our borders. The government doesn't want their supporters to come and register. So the question I asked myself was that, are their supporters coming from Togo, Burkina or Abidjan. Haruna Idrisu also did a press conference saying when they come to power they will make sure they register all their eligible voters. So I still asked myself who are their eligible voters who can not be registered for now? This proofs that the NDC always win elections with foreigners. Trust me if you go to Bole Mahama's own hometown, there are thousands of Zaminamers trading there and they all have this our current voters ID. They all vote as Ghanaians anytime there is election. But the good thing is that, they couldn't venture when we were doing the Ghana card. Which mean their names are going to be eliminated in the new register. This is the NDC is beefed about the exclusion of the current voters ID.
If you have these kinds of lawyers in your party how on earth will you win a case.
The problem with NDC is that their leaders and spokespersons are mostly reactionary that reflective. Using whatever words to describe the verdict doesn't change anything. I would advise them to reflect deeply on the verdict to plan the way forward.
NOT SURPRISE THIS SAME INCOMPETENT LAWYER AND FORMER INCOMPETENT MP SAID IF YOU SEE A FAT COW JUST SAY IS A BLACK CAT ,HOIW CAN A PERSON CALLED HIMSELF LAWYER DONT UNDERSTAND A WHOLE SC VERDICT BUT THE PALM WINE TAPPER GEN SEC. WAS THE ONE EXPLAIN TO NDC PEOPLE.