Supreme Court’s decision on NDC-EC case ready

The full judgment, of Ghana’s Supreme Court in the case brought before it by the NDC against the Electoral Commission regarding the EC’s compilation of a new voters roll, is ready. 

The final verdict of the apex court with one accord gave the Electoral Commission the green light to compile a new roll for voters for the 2020  general election to be held in December. 

READ: Download & fill 2020 voters registration form to skip long queue

A source at the Court’s Registry has hinted that the full judgment of the apex court of Ghana in the case is ready.

The judgment given by the court is said to be ready and includes all the reasons that informed the decision of the law interpreting court of the land.

Just as the parties to the case, thus the NDC and the EC could pick up copies of the judgment, interested persons can also apply to the registry for certified copies of the said judgment. 

READ: New voters’ register: Guarantor system will be abused – CODEO to EC

The Supreme Court on June 25th, 2020 in Accra asked the Electoral Commission to go ahead with the voter registration exercise in line with Constitutional Instrument (CI) 126 (2020).

The (CI) 126 (2020) excluded the 2012-2016 voters Identity card and the birth certificate as documents to prove one’s identity from being used for registering the new voter’s ID card. 

Hence, all Ghanaians who are 18 years and above and of sound mind can only use the Ghana Card from the National Identification Authority (NIA) to register or the Ghana passport and where none of these was readily available, an applicant needed two persons as guarantors who must have already registered for the new voter’s card already.

In the SC’s consequential orders, the Chief Justice said: “By this decision, the EC is hereby directed to commence the compilation of the Voter Registration Exercise as scheduled.

Also read: EC increases registration centers to 51 in phase three for Ketu South

“By these decisions, and by virtue of Article 130 (2) of the Constitution, any court in which same or similar action is pending or yet to be filed shall apply the decision rendered by the Supreme Court in these consolidated suits”.

The Supreme court while delivering its judgment upheld relief two(2) and three (3) that the NDC sought for but it also dismissed five (5) others 

In the reading of its judgment, the supreme court said

“Relief two is granted subject to the fact that all eligible voters must make themselves available for registration as directed by the Electoral Commission pursuant to the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) (Amendment) regulation, 2020 CI 126. Relief three: This is granted subject to the Voter Registration card issued to eligible voters under the prevailing constitutional Instrument CI 126,” the SC said.

The SC reiterated an earlier decision of the court in Abu Ramadan and Nimako case where the court re-emphasized that the EC in exercising its discretion in the discharge of the constitutional mandate in cleaning the Voters Register, “should be deemed as authorized to be acting within the law and the regulation therein, and cannot be faulted even if it is considered that there is a more efficient mode or method available.”

The supreme court also held that the Electoral Commission of Ghana per Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution can not be forced to act in a particular way as an independent body unless  “there is a clear evidence that they have acted unconstitutionally”.

The EC had disagreed with the NDC in which the plaintiff argued the EC did not have the power to proceed with the compilation of the voters roll. Per the understanding of the NDC, the EC could only compile the Voters Register once and then make efforts to revise the register as the law may direct. 

Since the verdict of the Supreme Court, the EC has registered close of 5 million Ghanaians in the exercise which is suppose to take 40 days. The exercise is in its 13th day and is being held in phases. In the 2016 general elections, some 16 million voters were expected to cast their votes.

With Ghana’s population hovering around 30 million, the number of people registered is expected to increase across the 16 regions. 

Source: Electionsinghana.com