'NHIS voters' saga: EC should return to SC – Prempeh

The Electoral Commission (EC) has been urged to head back to the Supreme Court if it has issues with its recent ruling on the removal of ineligible persons from the register of voters.

The call came from a former Deputy Attorney General, Kwame Osei Prempeh, following communication from the EC that it would not be undertaking any exercise to expunge from the electoral roll, names of persons who used National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards as proof of nationality for registration as voters in 2012, as well as those of minors, aliens, and deceased persons. The EC had claimed that there was no law currently stating how the procedure should be carried out, hence its interpretation that no such exercise was required.

One of the justices who ruled on the matter, Justice Jones Dotse, on Thursday told the media the Supreme Court was “clear and forthright” on its ruling that the EC deletes the names of voters who registered with the NHIS cards.

The court had earlier in 2014 ruled that NHIS cards were not adequate proof of Ghanaian citizenship, for which reason it could not be admitted in the EC’s voter registration exercise.

Mr. Prempeh told Accra100.5FM in an interview that the EC must go back to the Supreme Court for a clearer explanation of its order before it is too late.

“So, if, as EC, you find that difficult to do or you don’t understand it, what we will urge is that go back to the Supreme Court. The laws allow one to return to the Supreme Court and ask for interpretation,” he said on Thursday May 26, adding: “But if you say this is your understanding of the ruling, then you are bringing confusion into the country.”

He said the EC had reduced the trust Ghanaians had in it in recent times because of its stance on issues. He said the EC had failed to adopt the suggestions of parties and committees it had set up to advise it, saying it was a bad omen for the election management body.

“For all electoral bodies across the world, their most important responsibility is to first maintain public confidence, so all sides believe in the outcome of the election and say the EC is credible and truthful,” he added, warning that the EC was not doing its image any good with its decision to interpret the ruling to suit its agenda. “What they are doing is not good for this country and also not good for the EC itself. So, they must see to it and take the right course.”