I wish Supreme Court orders EC to compile new register – Kweku Baako

The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Malik Kweku Baako prays the Supreme Court will instruct the Electoral Commission to throw away the existing voter’s register.

He is convinced the need for a new register has long been overdue as he accuses the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General of being “economical with the truth” in their appearances in court.“I am beginning to think that perhaps if we had opted for a new register, two years ago, we would have cured this mischief, we may have cured it,” he said.

The Supreme Court on its May 5 judgment declined to grant the request for a new register. But its take on persons who registered with the NHIS cards has generated varied interpretations, compelling the plaintiff to go back to court for clarity.

Based on that, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued a six-day ultimatum to the EC to submit the list of persons who registered with the NHIS identity cards to the court as well as indicate in writing, the modalities it intends to use in removing the names of those persons from the country’s voter’s register which has generated hue and cry in the last months.

But Mr. Baako told Joy FM’s Newsfile Saturday it would not have come to this point if the court had simply asked the EC to compile a new voter’s register. “That is why I said then perhaps a new register would have cured the mischief, or this validation thing the court rejected, we may have to look at it again,” he stated.

“I wish it happened [court asking for a new voter’s register], that would be my wish. We may walk a tight rope but who tells you we can’t have a new register in three months, who says we can’t?

“This means that perhaps we may have to review the November 7 and go back to December 7.” Mr. Baako has one other wish he wants the Supreme Court to consider when the parties return to court next week. “I think the EC has become part of the problem, when they return to the court on the 30th, and they bring the list, the list ought to be subjected to strict scrutiny in terms of its authenticity, credibility and integrity.”