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Dr Justice Sai, a law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration ( GIMPA) has explained that the choice of relief made by the lawyer for National Democratic Congress(NDC), Edudzi Tamakloe, in the Supreme Court case between the National Democratic Congress(NDC) and the Electoral Commission of Ghana(EC) is akin to killing two birds with one stone.
The Harvard-trained lawyer noted that by choosing that the NDC wants the Supreme Court to declare that the current voter ID card can be as proof of one’s Ghanaian citizenship to enable the holder register in the upcoming voter reregistration exercise means that the NDC has succeeded in its quest to get the court to declare that the EC has no power to compile a new voter register.
The Supreme Court today directed the NDC to choose one of its two reliefs it sought. The NDC had wanted the Supreme Court to declare that the EC has no mandate to compile a new voter register altogether and to declare that the current voter ID card can be used in the upcoming voter reregistration exercise. But the Supreme Court directed it to choose one.
Dr Sai justified the NDC’s choice: “To understand Edudzi Tamakloe’s choice of relief 2 over relief 1, you need to first understand the core purpose behind the idea of a ‘new register’.
I know it is impossible to get the purpose from the EC’s conduct and communications – they’ve been erratic all through. So, look to the NPP’s argument in support of the new register.
If you followed the NPP’s argument very thoughtfully, you’d have no doubt in your mind that the purpose of the proposed register is to do away with the existing one completely.
Now that we know the purpose, let’s see why relief 2 – a declaration that the existing voter ID should be part of the identification documents – doesn’t change NDC’s case.
If the Court rules that the existing voter ID should be a part of the identification documents, it’ll mean that all the holders of that card will be eligible to be registered.
This, in substance, means that the product of the proposed register will be equal to (1) the existing register, plus (2) any new additions, whether persons or particulars, minus (3) the expiries.
This also means that the product of the proposed exercise will be a REVISION of the existing voter register rather than the CREATION of a new one (which is NDC’s relief 1 anyway),” he explained on social media sighted by MyNewsGh.com
Meanwhile the Supreme Court has set June 23 as the day to give its ruling on whether or not holders of the current voter ID card can use it to re-register as Ghanaian voters.
Source:MyNewsGh.com/Stephen Zoure/ 2020
