Electoral Commission will afford NHIS card holders opportunity to re-register
The Electoral Commission (EC) says it will afford persons who will be deleted of the electoral roll because they registered with NHIS cards the opportunity to re-register using the appropriate means of identification. The EC in a statement issued and signed on Friday, July 8 by Georgina Opoku Amankwaa, Deputy Chair, Corporate Services said it is taking steps to comply with the directives of the apex court and will make an announcement next week
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to outline how it plans to delete the 56,000 voters whose names were included in the voters’ register using the NHIS card.
The Supreme Court in clarifying its May 5, 2016 judgment on the matter, asked the commission to immediately delete the names of such person from the current register.
The court added that these persons should thereafter be given the opportunity to re-register after establishing that they are Ghanaian citizens, who are 18 years, and above and of sound mind so they could take part in the 2016 general elections.
The statement said, “The Electoral Commission welcomes the specific directives given by the Supreme Court on Tuesday July 5, 2016 regarding those, who registered as voters in 2012 using the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards as evidence of their citizenship.”
It added: “The court was very clear in stating that its order supersedes the relevant provisions of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I 91).This essentially means the commission is now empowered to delete such names, while ensuring that they are not disenfranchised. The Commission welcomes this new development, which will help the EC and all stakeholders to ensure a clean and credible register ahead of the elections”.
“The commission is taking appropriate steps to comply with the court’s directives and would make same public in the coming week".
“The announcement next week will also outline the modalities for the exhibition of the 2016 Provisional Voters Register, which is scheduled to start on 18th of July, 2016 in all polling/exhibition centres across the country.”
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Below is the full statement from the Electoral Commission:
EC TO ANNOUNCE MODALITIES FOR DELETING NHIS CARD REGISTRANTS
The Electoral Commission welcomes the specific directives given by the Supreme Court on Tuesday July 05, 2016 regarding those who registered as voters in 2012 using the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards as evidence of their citizenship.
The Apex Court, in clarifying its earlier judgment of May 05, 2016 on the matter, asked the Commission to immediately delete the names of such persons from the current provisional voters register. The Court added further that these persons should thereafter be given the opportunity to reregister after establishing that they are Ghanaian citizens, who are 18 years and above and of sound mind; and enabled to take part in the 2016 general elections.
The Court was very clear in stating that its order supercedes the relevant provisions of the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2016 (C.I. 91). This essentially means the Commission is now empowered to delete such names, while ensuring that they are not disenfranchised. The Commission welcomes this new development which will help the EC and all stakeholders to ensure a clean and credible register ahead of the elections.
The Commission is taking the appropriate steps to comply with the Court’s directives and would make same public in the coming week.
The announcement next week will also outline the modalities for the exhibition of the 2016 Provisional Voters Register which is scheduled to start on 18th July, 2016 in all polling/exhibition centres across the country.
Signed:
GEORGINA OPOKU AMANKWAA (MS.)
Deputy Chair, Corporate Services