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A private legal practitioner and member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elikplim Agbemava, has explained that the party has not lost focus on the reason for which it dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) to the Supreme Court.
This comes after NDC’s lawyer, Godwin Edudzi Tamekloe, withdrew the party’s relief seeking to stop the Electoral Commission (EC) from compiling a new voters’ register at the last hearing.
The NDC is holding on to the relief for the Jean Mensa-led EC to include the voter’s ID card as proof of identity during the registration exercise.
The decision got many wondering why the party, which mounted a vigorous campaign against the compilation of the new voters’ register, would shift the goalposts and push for the existing voters’ ID cards to be a requirement for the new electoral roll.
In a post breaking down the complexity of the matter, Lawyer Agbemava said, ”
The NDC has not abandoned its demand for the EC to drop the re registration of voters.”
“There are two activities the EC proposes to undertake. First is the registration of first time voters. The NDC is not and never will be opposed to this activity.”
Second is the invalidation of existing voter ID cards and re registration of old voters based on new requirements and ground rules. This is what the NDC is opposed to,” he clarified.
The once failed NDC flagbearer aspirant noted “the NDC is opposed to a registration exercise that will lead to a disenfranchisement of old voters. So we have been on record to be opposed to this activity so that if it does not take place old voters will still have and keep their existing IDs and statuses as voters. ”
“Put differently a re registration exercise can take place only if every single existing voter will not lose his or her right to vote as a result of the new rules applicable under a new re registration exercise,” Agbemava added.
He further explained, “so put in proper context an enforcement of the right to vote by the anchoring of the NDC case at the Supreme Court on the inclusion of old voter IDs on the list of verification requirements is a two edged sword.”
He observed that the NDC’s decision at the Apex Court last week was seeking to
“protect the right to vote of millions of Ghanaians who do not have the Ghana card, passport or anybody to vouch for them.”
” It will also not put Ghanaians at the mercy of corrupt EC and NPP officials who will only accept NPP vouches and reject any person who is vouched for by a n NDC community member,” he stated.
He further explained the registration exercise will take place at the polling stations and the polling stations are very small units where peoples political lineages are known.
“That is why some think it is possible to vouch for somebody in the first place.”
Concluding his narration, Lawyer Agbemava, a lead counsel at E.L Agbemava Law Office, noted, the inclusion of the old voter ID as a verification document as the NDC agreed in the court “will render useless any re registration exercise because it will serve no useful purpose but cause financial loss.”
By Henryson Okrah/myxyzonline.com
