Former President John Dramani Mahama has chastised Chief Justice Getrude Torkornoo over the delay in giving a date for the interlocutory injunction filed against the Electoral Commission (EC) to be heard. The injunction notice is in relation to the EC’s decision to limit the upcoming voter registration exercise to its district offices only.
According to the NDC 2024 flagbearer, “after the writ and the injunction application were duly filed at the Registry of the Supreme Court on Thursday, 7th September 2023, at 2:50 pm the Registrar informed the applicants’ representatives that they were awaiting the date to be given by the Chief Justice, who was outside the jurisdiction at the time”.
He continued that the Chief Justice returned and travelled to Cape Coast for the Bar Conference while the applicants’ representatives are still waiting at the Registry of the Supreme Court. This, he described, as unprecedented and does not augur well for public confidence in the justice delivery system.
Former President John Dramani Mahama lamented that this was contrary to the time-honoured practice where the Registry of the Supreme Court gives dates for applications to be moved.
Mr. Mahama recalled in 2012, “when a Ghanaian citizen decided to challenge the creation of the 45 new constituencies, the Supreme Court had a sole judge to decide the interlocutory injunction application in a timely manner”.
He bemoaned that the EC would start the lopsided registration exercise today, for which the interlocutory injunction was supposed to be filed, reminding Ghanaians of the famous mantra, ‘Justice delayed, is Justice denied’.
Background
The former President had criticised the Electoral Commission over the upcoming limited voter registration exercise and urged the Commission to decentralise the registration Centers.
He also urged the EC to facilitate the registration exercise in all electoral areas, to allow for easy access and a reduced burden on the citizenry, in their quest to register.
After saying these in his Facebook live session, the NDC, together with four other opposition political parties; namely the Convention People’s Party (CPP), All People’s Congress (APC), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) and the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) filed a suit against the Electoral Commission at the Supreme Court, over the latter’s decision to conduct the upcoming Limited Voter Registration exercise at their District Offices only.
The five political parties filed an Application for Interlocutory Injunction to restrain the EC from proceeding with the announced Limited Voter Registration exercise (starting today), pending the final determination of the substantive matter.
The parties were of the view that the EC’s decision to restrict the registration Centers to their district offices has the potential to deprive many eligible voters of their right to be registered as voters and to vote in public elections.
The limited voter registration exercise will be conducted for eligible Ghanaians who turned 18 years old after the 2020 registration exercise and other eligible voters from September 12, 2023 to October 2, 2023.
The EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, has said that the exercise will be held at all 268 district offices of the EC across the country.
