EC: Missing names on NHIS list an ‘error’

The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana has attributed some concerns raised by plaintiffs after the submission of some 56,000 names of voters who registered onto the electoral roll using the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card as a means of identification, to an “error” during compilation of the names.

The EC was ordered by the apex court on Thursday, June 23 to submit the list.

According to the court, this would enable it to bring finality to the case in which former People’s National Convention (PNC) Youth Organiser Abu Ramadan and one Evans Nimako are asking for the deletion of such names from the register.

At the hearing on Thursday, June 30, lawyer for the plaintiffs Frank Davies argued that the list of names submitted by the EC were conjectured.

Additionally, they raised issues about missing names, blank identification numbers, and repetition of identification numbers, among others.

But the EC said the objections were due to some errors, which could have resulted during printing of the list.

Additionally, the plaintiffs indicated that the list of 56,000 names was not complete, as the Attorney General had earlier indicated in 2014 that deletion of the names could disenfranchise a majority of voters who registered with NHIS cards.

Class FM’s Paa Kwesi Parker-Wilson, who was in court, reported that the justices of the highest court of the land gave the plaintiffs up to Monday, July 4 to file their objections after an hour’s review of the documents submitted by the electoral body.

The Supreme Court subsequently adjourned to 5th July 2016, to hear the matter.