Heavy security at Supreme Court ahead of NDC’s case against new register today

The Supreme Court will today, June 11, 2020, hear the opposition National Democratic Congress’ legal challenge on the exclusion of the current voter ID card from the June 30 voter registration exercise.

Ahead of the hearing, there is heavy security presence at the premises of the court.

At least 50 armed personnel from the Formed Police Unit of the Ghana police service have been deployed to provide security at the Supreme Court.

It is still unclear what the immediate danger warranting this deployment is as commanding officers remain mute.

The Court at its last sitting last Thursday directed the Electoral Commission to submit its legal justification for seeking to exclude the old voter ID card from the required list of proof of eligibility to register to vote in the 2020 general elections.

This has subsequently been done with the NDC also filing a supplementary statement.

The National Democratic Congress has invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to determine whether or not it is unconstitutional for the EC to reject an existing voters ID as the basis for the upcoming voter registration exercise.

The NDC contends that the decision of the EC to reject an existing voter ID will disenfranchise many Ghanaians which is a violation of Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution and that, per Article 45 of the Constitution, the EC can only compile a voter registration once and periodically, revise it.

At the last hearing, the Supreme Court directed the EC to present legal arguments on why it is rejecting the existing ID cards as identification requirement before being registered onto the yet to be compiled electoral roll.

The Commission subsequently filed a 31-page document to justify the exclusion of the Voter ID from the list of required identification.

The EC argued that it was an independent body and had the constitutional responsibility of determining how any registration exercise will be conducted.

It has also described the old voter ID as “a fruit from a poisoned tree” and a breach of Article 42 of the constitution.

Article 42 notes that: “Every citizen of Ghana of 18 years of age or above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda.”

It cited the court’s judgement in the Abu Ramadan case, where it indicated that the use of the National Health Insurance Card to register a voter is inconsistent with Article 42 of the constitution and therefore void.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Heavy security at Supreme Court ahead of NDC’s case against new register today appeared first on Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana, Current Affairs, Business News , Headlines, Ghana Sports, Entertainment, Politics, Articles, Opinions, Viral Content.

Read Full Story