The Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that was brought about by the General Secretary of the People’s National Convention Bernard Mornah to nullify portions of the Constitutional Instrument 74. Rule 71B of C.I. 74 provides that the decision of the Supreme Court in respect of a petition presented to challenge the election of a President cannot be reviewed. This ruling by itself does not pose any danger to President Mahama's administration but it gives impetus to others who can sue the Electoral Commissioner for denying their rights as stipulated in the 4th Republic Ghana constitution.
This ruling can spur some people especially those voters in the Nalerigu two polling stations whose votes were annulled when it was detected some people have voted without going through the Biometric verification machine or have been rejected by the verification machine. These people or anybody who was refused to vote can sue that, his or her rights as enshrined in the 1992 Ghana constitution Article 42 which states that 'every citizen of Ghana of 18 years of age or above of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered for the purpose of public elections and referendums.' Since the Constitution overides any secondary laws by any agency or entity like the Electoral Commission(EC), the CI 75 used by the Electoral Commissioner to bar some people from voting was unconstitutional and therefore the 2012 elections was unconstitutionally conducted.Kofi Ata, Cambridge, a Ghanaweb Columnist and commentator said it better when he wrote this;
"All laws in Ghana are subject to the supreme law of the land. That is, the Constitution. Any law (primary or secondary) that is contrary to the constitution can be ruled unconstitutional. In that same vein, the so-called "No Biometric Verification, No Vote", will be ruled unconstitutional. I have always held that view and this ruling will prove me right but we wait to see what the nine Justices will say." ---Kofi Ata, Cambridge, UK---
Kofi Atta, your prediction might come true and if it comes to pass, it will prove to be a double edge sword against the Mahama administration. If the Supreme Court goes ahead and annull the CI 75 as unconstitutional, it will have a good news and a bad news for the Mahama administration.
Let me touch on the good news for the Mahama government. The good news will be that, the Petitioners in the ongoing Supreme Court case, Nana Addo Dankwa, Dr. Bawumiah and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey can lose the portion of their case dealing with those people who voted without Biometric Verification machine as that law would be deemed unconstitutional and therefore the Petitioners not having any case. Though the Petitioners can still win their case based on the number of over voting which the Petitioners believe is in the 2 million region.
The bad news for President Mahama and the EC will be fatal because the 2012 election can be annulled in its entirety because some people were denied their constitutional rights to vote because of the Biometric Verification machine which rejected them and therefore denying them their rights to exercise their franchise. The ruling by the Supreme Court forced them to abandon their plans to sit on the ongoing case during holidays so this CI 75 has become a big problem and it is now hanging like a ripe mango waiting for somebody to pluck it to the Supreme Court as Mornah did and Mahama might find himself fighting for the Bole-Bamboi Parliamentary seat again.
What is CI 75? CI 75 Sec 30(2) requires that the voter shall go through a biometric verification process. But CI 75 Sec 30 (1) allows for any other evidence determined by the Commission , in order to establish by fingerprint or facial recognition that the person registered is the registered voter whose name and voter identification number and particulars appear in the register.
The whole of the CI can be ruled as unconstitutional or the sections quoted above can be ruled as Unconstitutional and therefore the 2012 election is null and void. I was debating some NDC supporters who brought this to my attention that, the CI 75 can be ruled as unconstitutional and therefore making the Petitioners case at the Supreme Court a bad case without them realising that, if the CI 75 is thrown out as unconstitutional, it can affect the whole 2012 election as being unconstitutionally conducted. Now I am waiting patiently for somebody in Ghana to challenge the C1 75 in the Supreme Court. Ebe dee bi k3k3, NDC, Me ma mo dumsor dumsor.
Justice Sarpong
(CARDINAL of TRUTH)
