Supreme Court adjourns sitting on voters' register list

The Supreme Court has adjourned sitting on the controversial case of deleting from the voters' register names using a source document declared as unconstitutional.

The Court, presided over by the Chief Justice Georgina Wood said it will give its ruling on the Electoral Commission’s list of voters who registered with NHIS cards next week.

The Commission Wednesday June 29, 2016 submitted the list following an order by the apex court.

At a hearing Thursday, the court gave the plaintiffs the list to go through.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs told the court they would want to raise issues with the list after going through and were given one hour to study the documents.

Since 2014, opposition politician, Abu Ramadan and others have been battling the EC in court over the legality of the use of National Health Insurance cards as proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The Supreme Court on July 30, 2014 declared the use of the card unconstitutional, holding that the Provision permitting the use of the card which was contained in the Constitutional Instrument (CI 72) was inconsistent with the Constitution.

After the declaration, the EC took no steps to remove the names compelling the plaintiffs to go back to court in 2016.

The Court gave its verdict on May 5, ordering the EC to amongst others, take immediate steps to delete the names of persons who did not establish qualification to be registered.

Conflicting interpretation of this judgment too forced the plaintiffs to go back to the Court to seek clarification.

When the court met to consider the application for clarification, the judges appeared infuriated by the seeming dithering of the EC.

They ordered the Commission to compile and submit to the court in six days, a list of persons who registered with the NHI Cards.

That list was submitted Wednesday as ordered.
It remains to be seen what the court will say next week when sitting resumes.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|