EC says it’s yet to get copy of Supreme Court ruling
The Electoral Commission (EC) said although it was yet to get a copy of the Supreme Court ruling, it had already put in mechanisms to delete names of the dead and those who registered with the National Health Insurance Card.
Mrs Georgina Opoku Amankwah, the Deputy Commissioner of the EC in charge of Corporate and General Services, who announced this at a press briefing, said with issues bordering on criminality the Commission was dealing with the Ghana Police Service to prosecute the affected people.
The press briefing coincided with a visit by the delegation of the East African Community (EAC) Forum of Electoral Commission, which was in the country since Sunday, May 1, for UNDP training on Electoral Management.
The exchange visit was to engage the Ghana Electoral Commission’s best practices and successes.
The EAC is made up of Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Mr Amankwah said in Africa, Ghana’s EC was seen as one of the best electoral management bodies and that was why the delegation was in Ghana to consult with it to discuss issues about structural arrangement and how registrations were done in different countries.
Answering questions on what the EC was doing about over populated areas such as the university campuses, the Deputy Chair said the EC was sending teams to ease pressure at areas that had high population.
She said they were also taking immediate steps to replace faulty machines and that was an on-going exercise and expressed the hope that all faulty machines would be replaced as early as possible to facilitate work at the centres.
Mrs Amankwah said considering Ghana Statistical Service’s figures, the EC was contemplating adding about 1.2 million people to the register.
She said one of the new things that would happen in the 2016 General Election was the electronic transmission of results.
Mr Charles Njoroge, the Deputy Secretary General, Political Federation, who led the delegation, thanked the EC for allowing them to consult with them.
“We have learnt a lot that will help us back in our various countries’ election,” he said.
Mr Njoroge commended the EC for operating transparent system by engaging the media and other actors frequently and expressed the hope that that exemplary practice would continue after the country’s general election.
He said: “Politics is not just for today but for tomorrow,” and stressed the need for all stakeholders to contribute their quota to ensure peaceful, free, fair and transparent election.
He said there could not be 100 per cent perfection in any electoral process and urged all actors to make room for peace.
Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Electoral Commission to delete from the electoral register names of all dead people and persons who used the NHIS card to register.
The court also ordered the EC to allow those whose names would be removed because they used the NHIS card as proof of citizenship to register, an opportunity to register if they qualify.
The court gave its ruling on a case brought by two politicians, Abu Ramadan, a former Youth Leader of the Peoples’ National Convention, and Kwame Baffoe, New Patriotic Youth Leader, seeking to challenge the credibility of Ghana’s Electoral Register.
The court also asked the EC to remove from the register all minors who registered in the last elections in 2012.
The Supreme Court, in its ruling, unanimously asked the EC to do all it could to consult others in its work.
Source: GNA