14th February 2025
Jean Menssah

Jean Menssa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission

Parliament yesterday approved the recommendation of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee to adopt its report on the Constitutional Instrument (C.I. 126), thus giving the greenlight for the Electoral Commission(EC) to, among others, go ahead to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the December elections.

The law was passed by a majority decision of 106-92, after the NDC Minority rejected the outcome of a voice vote conducted earlier.

The C.I. was laid before the House on March 16, this year, but was later withdrawn and re-laid on two occasions, after the Subsidiary Legislation Committee detected some defects in the instrument on those occasions.

Meanwhile, the EC has set June 30, 2020, as the date for the commencement of the registration exercise, as it awaits the C.I. 126 to come into force after 21 sitting days.

A letter addressed to the political parties, and signed by Dr Bossman Asare, Deputy Chairperson of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, indicates that the registration is expected to be held in all registration centres and district offices of the EC across the country.

Legal justification

The Electoral Commission (EC), Monday, explained to the Supreme Court that its order for the removal of names of people who used the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) cards as proof of Ghanaian identity for registration was not carried out, hence the need for new voters’ register.

The EC made that case in its six-point 31-page legal argument to the apex court, urging it to allow the exclusion of the current voters ID cards as proof of citizenship and voting age.

The Supreme Court last week ordered the EC to provide the legal basis for the decision to reject the existing voter ID cards as a proof of citizenship in the upcoming voters’ registration exercise.

A seven-member panel of the court, presided over by Chief Justice Anin Yeboah, gave the order during a hearing of a suit by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) challenging the upcoming compilation of a new voters’ register by the EC.

EC mandate

Making a case for the new register, the EC called on the apex court to back its decision to exclude the current voters’ ID card as proof of identification for prospective voters.

The EC stated that it has the “sole exclusive constitutional responsibility to compile a voters’ register and to determine how that compilation will be effected,” adding that it is not subject to the direction or control of any other person or body.

Secondly, the EC explained that in exercising its duty mandated by the Constitution, it had placed before Parliament a Constitutional Instrument that does not include the use of the existing or old voters ID cards.

Earlier ruling

Making reference to an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court, the EC said the apex court found in Abu Ramadan No.1 that the use of the NHIS cards to register was unconstitutional because it did not prove qualification.

“An anecdotal evidence provided by registration officials during the compilation of the voters register under C.I 72 showed that a majority of applicants used the NHIS to register as it was the most widely accessible card at the time,” the EC said.

Breaches

Again, the EC said “it found a fundamental omission in its training manual and the manner in which the voter registration exercise was carried out in 2012, partly in breach of its own binding CI 72 and also in breach of Article 42 of the constitution”.

The EC further said that it will be in continuous breach of Article 42 of the Constitution to totally disregard the court’s own judgment to continue using the existing cards since it is in “contravention of Section 8(1) of Act 750 (as amended) for the 2nd Defendant to accept the existing voter identification cards as a means of proving citizenship for the compilation of the new register.”

“Your Lordships, we (EC) submit that what Section 8(1) of Act 750 (as amended) has done is to effectively exclude the existing voter identification card as a form of identification for the purposes of proving citizenship, which is the first and foremost qualification required of an individual applying to be registered as a voter.

“It is the considered opinion of the 2nd defendant (EC) that to accept any form of identification, including the existing voter identification cards, which is not provided for under Section 8(1) Act 750 (as amended) as a means of proving identification for the compilation of the new register will be in contravention of statute,” it added.

Source: Daily Statesman

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