Jail EC boss, six others if… – Casely Hayford

Financial Analyst and Social commentator, Sydney Casely-Hayford wants the Supreme Court to jail the seven members of the Electoral Commission [EC] if they fail to obey the orders of the Supreme Court compelling them to provide the full list of NHIS card holders on the voters register.

The Supreme Court last Wednesday ordered the EC to furnish it with the list by June 29, 2016.

“If they do not comply by the 29^th, they should be jailed. All the seven members of the commission should be rallied before the Supreme Court and charged with contempt of the Supreme Court and they should be jailed,” Casely-Hayford said on Citi FM's News analysis programme, The Big Issue.

The Court said it needed the information to enable it bring clarity on its May 5 judgment , regarding the removal of unqualified persons on the voters' register to a closure.

Though the commission had assured to meet the deadline , some critics claimed the six-day ultimatum is too short a time looking at the workload on the EC.

But Casely-Hayford argued that the EC should have anticipated trouble the first time the Supreme Court ruled on a similar case brought before it in 2014.

“…Doesn't the collective common sense of the commission apply that if in 2014 you were told that there is a possibility that the NHIS cards will become an issue? You have sat down and you have waited and not done anything about it until now and then you say six days is too short a time for us to do what you told us to do some two years ago,” he added.

We'll stop EC from plunging Ghana into chaos

The apex court of the land, the Supreme Court has warned that the Electoral commission, will not be allowed to plunge the country into chaos.

The visibly unhappy panel of justices presided over by Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, indicated their displeasure over what they termed the lackadaisical attitude of the EC in complying with their orders in the Abu Ramadan suit.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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