Presidential Staffer takes Supreme Court Judge to task

Presidential Staffer and Former Member of Parliament for Adenta, Kojo Adu Asare has taken strong exception to comments by a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Sulley Gbadegbe, that the Electoral Commission (EC) must act in a way that will not plunge Ghana into chaos.

The Supreme Court Justice is reported to have expressed their displeasure over what they believe is the laissez-faire attitude of the EC in obeying their orders in the Abu Ramadan suit to expunge names of Ghanaians who registered with their National Health Insurance cards as captured in the voters register.

The obviously unhappy five-member panel Supreme Court Justices presided over by Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood were reportedly unhappy with the EC attitude towards their ruling.

The court has ordered the Commission to submit names of the NHIS registrants on the voters register and how it intends to delete the names to the court by Wednesday, June 29, 2016.

"Let it be known that when we make a pronouncement and it is not complied with and the country gets into crisis then you blame judges. We will not allow that to happen," Justice Sulley Gbadegbe is said to have made this comment.

Speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Kojo Adu Asare described the comments as "judgmental", claiming the Judge's remark might have been fair to the Commission if it had failed to comply with the court's directive on June 29.

To him, the EC appears to have become a target for the Supreme Court.

"You are dealing with two parties in a case. It sounds too much judgmental on this matter because it tends to tilt the arguments against the Electoral Commission."

He added that the comment is untimely and appears to have taken a particular stance against the Commission.

Adu Asare could only justify the comment on the basis that the EC "fails to comply with the orders" of the court; "when the EC is seen to have taken a certain posture disrespecting or disregarding their orders, then it would have elicited such a remark...indeed that comment didn’t sit well with me at all."