Former President, John Dramani Mahama has bemoaned the delay by the Supreme Court registry in providing a date for the hearing of an injunction application filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the Electoral Commission (EC).

The suit was filed in relation to the Commission’s decision to limit the upcoming voter registration exercise to its district offices.

According to the NDC's flagbearer, “contrary to the time-honoured practice of the Registrar of the Supreme Court giving dates for applications to be moved, the Registrar has, as of this afternoon, refused to provide a date for the application for interlocutory injunction filed against the Electoral Commission (EC).”

On Thursday, September 7, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and four other political parties sued the EC over its insistence on conducting the 2023 limited voter registration exercise at its district offices.

The suit, which is joined by the Convention People’s Party (CPP), All People’s Congress (APC), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) and the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), alleges that the decision will disenfranchise many eligible voters. 

The political parties are thus asking the Supreme Court to prevent the electoral management body from proceeding with the exercise pending the final determination of the substantive matter.

Read also: https://myjoyonline.com/ndc-4-other-parties-sue-ec-over-limited-voters-registration/

But in a Facebook post, Mr Mahama said, although the writ and the injunction application were duly filed at the Registry of the Supreme Court on Thursday, 7th September 2023, at 2:50 p.m., nothing has come out of it.

He contended that at the time of the filing of the injunction, the applicants were informed that the registry was waiting for a date to be given by the Chief Justice, who was outside the jurisdiction at the time.

He went on to state that although the Chief Justice is back in town, nothing has been reported about the issue with the EC set to commence the registration exercise tomorrow – Tuesday.

"This is unprecedented and does not augur well for public confidence in the justice delivery system.

"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. Indeed, the practice of assigning single justices to hear interlocutory applications for an injunction has happened several times in the cases of Ekwam v. Pianim, Welford Quarcoo v. Attorney General and Ransford France v. Electoral Commission & Attorney General.

"The EC starts the lopsided registration exercise tomorrow for which this process is being filed, and yet we all know the famous mantra, 'Justice delayed, is justice denied'," he wrote.

Background

The Electoral Commission has announced that it will commence the 2023 voters’ registration exercise from Tuesday, September 12, and end on Monday, October 2.

In the said announcement, the Commission added that the exercise would take place at its district offices across the country.

Jean Mensa, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, made this known on Thursday, August 17, at a press briefing in Accra dubbed, ‘Let the Citizen Know.’

She also disclosed a GH¢10 charge for the replacement of a lost or misplaced voter’s ID card.

“The voter’s registration exercise will afford Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 years, since the last registration of 2020 and others who are more than 18 years, but for various reasons couldn’t register during the 2020 registration exercise an opportunity to do so.”

“The EC will embark on voters’ registration in all 268 district offices of the Commission. The exercise will be held from September 12 to October 2,” she disclosed.

But this decision has not received the support of many political parties.