Naagyei 90.3 Fm Agyapa
The Supreme Court has dismissed a review application by lawyers of the NDC of its judgment on the compilation of a new voters register.
The dismissal of the application follows the refusal of the lead lawyer for the NDC Tsatsu Tsikata to move the party’s application.
Mr. Tsikata took the decision not to move the application due to the fact that he only received the response to their suit from the EC while in court.
According to him, he had not had the time to go through it hence cannot speak on it.
Mr. Tsikata before this had a ruling in his favor seeking an abridgment of time for the case to be heard much earlier than scheduled.
He further asked the court for an extension of time to file some documents but was refused by the court.
The Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice Enin Yeboah after a long period of arguments dismissed the NDC’s review case saying it lacked merit.
The NDC argues in its review application that the “Supreme Court in several cases, arrived at its conclusions without due and proper regard for existing laws, and in many cases, without the requisite supporting evidence.”
On the issue of the birth certificate the lawyers of the NDC argued that “with respect to the birth certificate in particular, its relevance for public purposes such as obtaining a passport is very well established. Indeed, it is not only in Ghana that this is the case. Throughout the world, the keeping of official records of birth and the use of the resulting birth certificate for public purposes is well established.”
According to the NDC “the Supreme Court’s decision that holders of existing voter ID cards cannot use same as a source of identification is also a matter of great concern to us as a political party. It is our view, that holders of existing voter ID cards have acquired rights based on the fact that the Electoral Commission has gone through a process of identifying them, ascertaining their ages and nationality and has adjudged them to be eligible to vote.”
