![\"Abu](\"http:\/\/img.ghanamma.com\/uploads\/2014\/07\/1b34240x_mg_qul8oba44i_aburamamdan.jpg\")
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Abu Ramadan
The Supreme Court yesterday\u00a0unanimously granted an order\u00a0restraining the electoral Commission\u00a0(EC) from using National\u00a0health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)\u00a0identity cards in the impending\u00a0voter registration exercise.<\/p>\n
The EC had scheduled a revision\u00a0of the voters’ register for last\u00a0week to register citizens who had\u00a0recently turned 18 and sought to\u00a0use the NHIS cards for the registration\u00a0ahead of the 2016 elections.<\/p>\n
But Abu Ramadan, National\u00a0youth Organiser of the people’s\u00a0National Convention (PNC),\u00a0Kwasi Danso-Acheampong and Evans Nimako, a farmer, filed\u00a0separate suits, which were later\u00a0merged, to challenge the EC over\u00a0the use of the NHIS cards as a\u00a0means of identification for the\u00a0exercise.<\/p>\n
The PNC National youth\u00a0Organizer was suing the EC for\u00a0allowing the use of the NHIS card as one of the identity cards\u00a0to be used for the registration of\u00a0persons who turned 18.<\/p>\n
Abu Ramadan also sought an\u00a0order of perpetual injunction to\u00a0restrain the EC from using the\u00a0NHIS card and other identification\u00a0cards that do not establish\u00a0qualification to register voters.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ramadan described the\u00a0use of NHIS cards as proof for\u00a0qualification to register voters as\u00a0‘unconstitutional, void and of no\u00a0effect’ since it is tantamount to\u00a0an applicant registering twice or\u00a0more.\u00a0he therefore sought an order\u00a0of perpetual injunction to restrain\u00a0the EC from using the NHIS cards.<\/p>\n
The seven-member panel\u00a0presided over by the Chief Justice\u00a0Georgina Theodora Wood unanimously\u00a0ruled in their favour, preventing\u00a0the EC from using the\u00a0NHIS cards for the registration.<\/p>\n
She said the use of the NHIS card to register a voter pursuant\u00a0to regulation 13 (d) of CI 72 is\u00a0inconsistent with Article 42 of the\u00a01992 constitution, indicating that\u00a0‘by the powers conferred on us\u00a0by Article 22 of the 1992 constitution,\u00a0the said regulation is hereby\u00a0struck out.’<\/p>\n
The court also granted the\u00a0request for an order of a perpetual\u00a0injunction restraining the EC\u00a0from using the NHIScard to register\u00a0voters.<\/p>\n
The ruling therefore gives the EC the green-light to commence\u00a0the registration exercise which\u00a0was earlier put on hold by the\u00a0court, but without the use of the\u00a0NHIS cards.<\/p>\n
The court however fixed\u00a0October 17 as the date on which\u00a0it would give reasons for its ruling.<\/p>\n
7th Judge\u00a0Travels\u00a0
Prior to the judgement, the\u00a0Chief Justice told the court that\u00a0the seventh judge, Justice A.A.\u00a0Benin, who was currently\u00a0engaged at the eCOWAS court,\u00a0had given his consent for the\u00a0judgement.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Reliefs\u00a0
Earlier, moving his motion,\u00a0lead counsel for the plaintiffs\u00a0Nana Asante Bediatuo, had wanted\u00a0the court to make a decision\u00a0on whether or not upon a true\u00a0and proper interpretation of Article\u00a042 of the 1992 constitution, the\u00a0NHIS card is proof of qualification\u00a0to register as a voter.<\/p>\n
He also wanted a decision on\u00a0whether or not upon a true and\u00a0proper interpretation of Article 42\u00a0of the 1992 constitution, an existing\u00a0ID card could be used as\u00a0proof of qualification to register\u00a0as a voter pursuant to regulation\u00a013 (e) of CI 72, adding that it will\u00a0be tantamount to an applicant\u00a0registering twice or more and\u00a0therefore unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Kwasi Danso-Acheampong\u00a0who associated himself with\u00a0Nana Bediatuo, in a submission,\u00a0said parliament had no power to\u00a0bless the CI 72 that the EC\u00a0brought to the house because it\u00a0opened a window of opportunity\u00a0for non Ghanaians to stray into\u00a0the country’s elections.<\/p>\n
He warned that the country\u00a0should not use subtle ways to get\u00a0non-Ghanaians into its elections\u00a0because of the passion associated\u00a0with its politics.<\/p>\n
Responding, James Quarshie-\u00a0Idun, counsel for the defendants,\u00a0while praying the court to dismiss<\/p>\n
the motion of the plaintiffs\u00a0among others, sought an interpretation\u00a0on whether the use of\u00a0the NHIS card under CI 72 is\u00a0proof of qualification to register\u00a0as a voter or use of evidence of \u00a0identity or identification.<\/p>\n
He also wanted a declaration\u00a0on whether regulation 13 (e) (d)\u00a0of CI 72 is inconsistent with Article\u00a042 of the 1992 constitution.<\/p>\n
Other members on the panel\u00a0were Justices Sophia Adinyira,\u00a0Jones Victor Dotse, Kwasi Anin\u00a0yeboah, Sulley Gbedegbe and J.B.\u00a0Akamba.<\/p>\n
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
[email\u00a0protected]<\/p>\n
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Abu Ramadan Abu Ramadan The Supreme Court yesterday\u00a0unanimously…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}