CJ must explain ruling on NHIS card holders - Allotey Jacobs

Central Regional Chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs has called on the Chief Justice to explain a recent ruling by the Supreme Court on persons who registered as a voter with the NHIS card.

There has been a divided opinion on the case involving the former National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention and NPP activist who sued the Electoral Commission (EC) over the credibility of the voters’ register since it contains names of persons who registered with the NHIS card. The Supreme Court in 2014 invalidated the use of NHIS card for voter registration.

“The [Mrs. Georgina Wood] must come out explain to Ghanaians on the decision because she presided over the issue and her explanations will settle the dust,” Allotey Jacobs requested.

The NDC Chairman was reacting to a comment by a member of the panel of Supreme Court Judges who ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to purge the voters’ register of persons who used the National Health Insurance Scheme cards as a form of identification for their registration.

“…we [Supreme Court] said the use of the NHIS cards is, therefore, unconstitutional and it should take the opportunity to clean the register of those undesirable persons” Justice Jones Dotse stated.

Justice Dotse was also quoted as saying, “we also do not want to disenfranchise anybody so the Supreme Court went on to say that anybody who will be affected by that exercise should be given the opportunity to register according to the law and the constitution, period.”

The EC had insisted that the Supreme Court’s May 5 ruling on the voters’ register did not instruct them to delete the names of those who registered with NHIS cards ahead of the 2016 elections.

Speaking on the issue on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa hosted by Kwame Karikari today, Mr. Allotey Jacobs explained that “Justice Dotse is a highly respected judge in Ghana but the Chief justice who presided over the case must come out to clear the air”.

He said, “the presiding judge must come out and explain the ruling because there has been some understanding”.