Electorate in Kasena Nankana East can't vote - after being registered
This came to light when a five-member delegation from the AU and ECOWAS Peace and Observer Mission led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called on the Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Wood in Accra today.
The meeting was to learn from the Judiciary what preparations had been put in place towards the resolution of election disputes in the country.
During question time one of the delegates asked what was the fate of those eligible voters in the Kasena Nankana area whose registration was ordered by the court.
In response the CJ’s team, including Justices Victor Jones Dotse and Sulley Gbadegbe, both justices of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Secretary, Mr Alex Acheampong, briefed the delegation about the Manual on Election Adjudication in Ghana put together by the Judicial Service and indicated that even though the EC had purged itself by registering the voters on that area, they could not vote by law.
Regulation 9 (4) of CI 72 states that the Commission shall include in the register of voters, the name of a person who qualifies for registration as a voter and is registered but the 9(5) states the prohibition.
General Obasanjo said their objective was to ensure peace and stability and also the fact that Ghana seemed to be the vanguard of democracy in the subregion.
He said free and fair election was already stable in Ghana, therefore, the team was here to build on that foundation.
He expressed happiness about the Kumasi Peace Declaration by all the presidential candidates in this year’s election.
On Friday November 30, 2012, the Accra Fast Track High Court gave the Chairman of the EC up to December 5, 2012 to conduct biometric registration for some voters in the Kasena Nankana municipality or face the wrath of the court.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Utter Dery, gave the order after finding the EC Chairman, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, and two other officials of the commission guilty of contempt for disregarding an order to conduct biometric registration of the voters in the area.
The court will today (December 5) hand down its sentence.
The other contemnors are Mr Sarfo Kantanka, the Deputy Chairman of the EC, and Mr Nicholas Pawiah, the Kasena Nankana District Electoral Officer.
The court also rescinded a bench warrant which had been issued for the arrest of Mr Pawiah.
The action of the court was predicated on a judgement given on October 18, 2012 against the EC and six others by the court, presided over by Mr Justice Edward Asante Amoako, which ordered the EC to conduct registration of voters in eight affected registration centres of the Atosale/Azaasi and Akumkongo/Abempingo Electoral areas within 14 days.
The court further ordered the Upper East Regional Police Command to provide the necessary protection for officers of the EC to enable them to undertake the registration exercise and that if the officers thought that the police in the area did not have enough men to provide the necessary protection, they should report the matter to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
Story by Stephen Sah
