Supreme Court orders EC to act

I am extremely surprised at the way New Patriotic Party (NPP) cohorts are rejoicing over the current Supreme Court ruling that ordered the independent Electoral Commission (EC) to submit before it, by 29th June, 2016, a comprehensive list of all persons who registered with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards in 2012. In addition, the panel of five Supreme Court judges, chaired by Chief Justice Georgina Wood, directed the EC to develop guidelines for the specific processes and methods it intends to adopt in implementing the orders in the 5th May, 2016 judgement on the voters’ register.

The NPP is celebrating as if this development will bring its “grandpa” Akuffo-Addo to power.

Today, NPP members are calling our noble judges competent because of the above pronouncements which they don’t even understand.

Is this not deplorable? This is the same NPP which degraded and insulted the Supreme Court judges in 2012 when the Court unanimously decided the 2012 election petition in favor of the NDC.

What names has the NPP not called the judges (“incompetent,” “biased,” “pro-NDC,” and so on) because they did not rule that “Opana” Akuffo-Addo won the 2012 election by winning only two regions out of ten.

As NPP members celebrate the Supreme Court orders, is it fair for us, the good people of Ghana, to say that the judges are in bed with the NPP? No! We are far better than that. But we have one thing to tell them clearly—under the leadership of John Dramani Mahama, we have built a competent Court of Jurisdiction.

Apparently, the NPP expects all rulings to go its way. If a decision favors them, it is fair, but if it does not then the judges are subjected to a barrage of insulting names.

The truth is—NPP is a faceless worm behind a vegetable leaf. Its members are without courage and have blemished reputations.

I’m saying that because the NPP has never agreed on anything the Electoral Commission has done from the day EC boss Madam Charlotte Osei was appointed. Since they are unable to take her to court, they are hiding behind Abu Ramadan, a formal youth organizer of People’s National Convention (PNC), who did take the EC to the Court.

The ineptitude and the belligerent posture of the NPP with regard to the coming election must be closely watched.

Our fellow Ghanaians who in 2012 registered with the NHIS card as proof of identification, did nothing wrong. The use of the NHIS card as a form of identification to register was lawful and approved by various parties and law makers.

The good people of Ghana are, therefore, observing the Supreme Court to see the kind of measures they will take to ensure that Ghanaians who by law registered to vote in 2012 with NHIS cards are not disenfranchised.

We wait to see how the Supreme Court will guarantee the 90-year-old Ghanaian who does not have a Ghanaian passport, birth certificate, or anyone to identify him or her as a Ghanaian, whose only source of identification is the NHIS card, will be able to register, i.e., will not be deprived of his or her right to vote.

The sovereign people of Ghana are being vigilant and praying that the Supreme Court ruling does not lead the EC to disenfranchise those Ghanaians who registered with NHIS. That would render the EC vulnerable to a suit. A Supreme Court decision should not be the cause of all that.

The Supreme Court ruling must ensure authenticity of the voter register as well.

Civil rights activists should follow this case closely in order to speak on behalf of our fellow Ghanaians who might be victims of disenfranchisement.

Until God makes you king, no amount of propaganda or self-serving pronouncements will enable you to ascend to the throne.

Long live Ghana.

Long live the NDC.

Eye Zu ………..