The Supreme Court will today (June 25,2020) deliver its judgment on whether or not to uphold the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to refuse existing voters’ cards as a form of identification for the upcoming mass registration exercise.

The NDC had earlier, in a legal suit against the EC, invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution with a case that it was unconstitutional for the EC to reject an existing voters ID as a prerequisite for the upcoming voter registration exercise.

The minority believes the Constitutional Instrument (C.I) to be used by the EC in compiling the new register will disenfranchise many Ghanaians who do not have a passport or Ghana Card.

The NDC also argued in its suit that per Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution 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”.

The NDC however, abandoned this suit which had to do with the constitutionality of the EC’s decision to conduct that exercise.

Amicus brief Dismissal

At a hearing yesterday (June 24, 2020) the Supreme Court judge, Justice Baffoe Bonnie has thrown out an application filed by four civil society organizations to be friends of the suit filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) and the Attorney General.

The CSOs – IMANI Africa, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation, and Conservative Policy Research Center – had served notice to volunteer relevant information to the court in what is often referred to as amicus brief in law.

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But the EC on Tuesday, June 23 prayed the Court to dismiss the application by the CSOs, arguing the public utterances of the CSOs on the matter is a clear indication that “they are not disinterested in the outcome of the case”, and can thus not file an amicus brief.

On Wednesday, the Court unanimously threw out the application, saying it has no place in law.

At the hearing yesterday, the seven-member panel of the apex court, presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah also dismissed an amicus brief application filed by lawyers of four civil society Organisations (CSOs) including, policy think tank, IMANI Africa and the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA).

The others include the Policy Innovation Alliance for Social Equity and the Conservative Policy Research Centre and Institute for Liberty.