Abu Ramadan resurrects suit against EC over voters register

Abu Ramadan

A former National Youth Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan, and one Evans Nimako, have revived a suit against the Electoral Commission (EC) at the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the current electoral roll is not credible.


Joined to the suit is the Attorney-General (A-G), Marrieta Brew Appiah-Oppong.

The Plaintiffs want “A declaration that the current voters register which contains the names of persons who have not established qualification to be registered is not reasonably accurate or credible and therefore inconsistent with Article 45(a) of the Constitution thereby making same unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect.”

In the earlier writ two individuals sought to invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to enforce the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 45 (a) and 42, the 2012 voters register had in it “names of persons who failed to establish constitutional qualification to be registered as voters”.

Counsel for the plaintiffs, Nana Asante Bediatuo , had told to the court during a sitting on February 3, 2016 that the withdrawal of the suit was to enable his team to amend certain reliefs in the suit – explain that additional information received from the Commission has prompted the need to review their earlier writ.

The revival of the suit against the EC comes at a time when the Commission is embroiled in a controversy with political parties over its decision to set up an Election Steering Committee for elections eight months ahead.

Meanwhile, a legal practitioner, Mr Kwame Baffoe, earlier this week also filed a suit asking the Supreme Court to declare that the current national voters’ register compiled by the EC and intended to be used for the 2016 general elections is bloated and hence unfit for use in the general elections.

In the current suit Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako filed at the highest court of the land, the two individuals are seeking the following reliefs:

A declaration that the current voters register which contains the names of persons who are deceased is not reasonably accurate or credible and is therefore inconsistent with Article 45(a) of the Constitution thereby making same unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect.

(a) An order setting aside the current voters register and compelling the Electoral Commission to compile a fresh voters register before the conduct of any new public election or referendum in Ghana. Or in the alternative,

(b) An order compelling the Electoral Commission to audit the current voters register through the validation of the registration of each person currently on the register

i. To remove the names of unqualified persons and deceased persons and

ii. To provide each validated registration with biometric evidence thereof and

iii. To strike out the names of those persons who fail to validate their voter registration within the stipulated period, before the conduct of any new registration exercise or public election or referendum in Ghana.

In a separate suit, the Plaintiffs also want an injunction stamped on the limited registration exercise, which is yet to be scheduled.

Lawyers of Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako hold that the use of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card as identification for the limited registration exercise violates the Constitution.

The limited registration exercise is aimed at offering Ghanaians who have attained the voting age of 18 years since the last registration in 2012 to register for voting on November 7 this year.
 Source: Myjoyonline.com