Supreme Court ruling victory for EC - David Annan

Following the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC), directing the Electoral Commission to clean the voters' register by deleting the names of persons who were registered unconstitutionally in 2012 with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards, a private legal practitioner Lawyer David Annan says it is a victory for the EC.

He explained that the two applicants, Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako failed with their two reliefs to nullify the current voters' register to make way for a new register and then validation of the current register which they seek to delete names of persons who failed to turn up for the validation process.

Speaking on the Supreme Court ruling on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, David Annan rubbished the jubilation of the duo who had sent the EC to the court, saying it is “disgusting” for them to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians as if they have been vindicated by the court's decision to direct the EC to delete names of persons who used NHIS Cards to register.

According to him, the Supreme Court dismissed their reliefs as the court found their cases immaterial to work on.

“The ruling is not out and so they are throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. The applicants failed because their case was not NHIS issue; their claim was that the current voters' register is not credible and so there should be a fresh register. This is what they wanted...the ruling is rather a victory for the EC and defeat for the applicants,” he argued.

He reminded the opposition NPP and the two applicants who still carry the notion that the Supreme Court has described the current voters' register not credible to revise their notes as the court ruling indicated that the register is rather "reasonably inaccurate"; meaning only some portions of the register need to be worked on.

He concluded that the fact that those persons have the opportunity to register again after their names have been expunged from the voters' register goes to defeat the two applicants who wished to see those names not return to the voters' register.

Speaking to Citi News, the first plaintiff in the case, Abu Ramadan, indicated that now that the Supreme Court has ordered the EC to come up with ways to clean the register and give voters another opportunity to re-register before November 7, they are going to hold them to it.

The former youth leader further added that Ghana could be plunged into “chaos” if the EC does not implement the recommendations.

In an interview on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, the 'Big Issue', Executive Director of think tank, IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe also said he finds the court’s ruling a “bit baffling” since it failed to grant the plaintiffs more reliefs including fixing Ghana’s ID system than what they sought for.

The Supreme Court in a judgement asserted that the current voters’ register is “reasonably inaccurate”, and thus directed the commission to immediately take steps to clean it.

The country’s apex court further ordered the Electoral Commission to expunge from the register names of all persons who registered in the 2012 elections, with the National Health Insurance Card as a proof of identity.

The Supreme Court made the statement in its ruling in a case brought before it by a former National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan and one Evans Nimako, who were challenging the credibility of the current register.

The court however did not give a specific timeline for the implementation of the ruling.