No need to jubilate over Supreme Court’s directive to EC – Oppong Nkrumah

The Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said there is no need to jubilate over a Supreme Court directive to the Electoral Commission on the compilation of the Voters’ Register.

The Supreme Court on Thursday, June 4, 2020, ordered the EC to provide a legal basis for refusing to accept the existing Voters ID Cards as part of requirements for compilation of the new voters’ register.

Some have seen this as an indication that the Supreme Court will stop the EC from going ahead with the controversial decision.

However, speaking on Citi FM Thursday on the matter, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said that the directive to the EC is consistent with the fundamental principles of law.

“The basic principle in law called ‘Audi alteram partem’ says you cannot pronounce judgment on a matter without hearing from the other side. So if the Supreme Court is going to make a determination on an application that has been made about something that the Electoral Commission is doing, it only stands to reason that they will request to hear from the EC so that they are informed before they come to a certain ruling or judgment and I think anybody who knows how the legal system works in this country will actually appreciate that this is how the Supreme Court has gone by such issues,” he said.

The Information Minister added, “I don’t know why anyone would jubilate over that and as I have explained, you cannot come to a judgment on a matter without hearing from the other side.”

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) dragged the EC to the apex court in a bid stop the Commission from compiling a new voters’ register for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The party argued in the March 2020 writ that the EC lacks the power to go ahead with its plans because it can only “compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law.”