Judgement day: Supreme Court fixes June 23 for voter ID case
The Supreme Court has fixed June 23 to decide on whether the Electoral Commission has the right to accept an existing voters’ card as a form of identification for the upcoming voter registration exercise.
A week after the court directed the EC to respond to its decision to exclude the voter ID, a seven-member panel of the country’s highest court fixed the date to give its landmark decision on the case brought before it by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
It is the case of the country’s largest opposition party that the exclusion of the existing voter ID card will disenfranchise millions of Ghanaians and deny them the right to vote.
Meanwhile, the Police mounted heavy security at the Supreme Court as the country’s highest court decides on whether the Electoral Commission has the right to use the Ghana Card and the Ghanaian passport as the only forms of identification for the upcoming voters’ registration exercise.
Learning from experiences, the police has adopted the stringent security measures to prevent political sympathisers, particularly the National Democratic Congress who sued the EC, from invading the court.
About 100 armed police officers, wielding Ak 47 rifles, batons, bullet-proof vest and face marks are seen spread all corners of the Supreme Court premises at every entry point of the court ahead of the court’s sitting.
In the recent past, party loyalists throng the court to support big wigs in court and end up often clashing with the court.
Theghanareport.com’s court correspondent, Gloria Kafui Amable, said by 8.45 am, there was a battalion of police officers within the premises of the courts ready to ward off trouble makers.
The decision from the highest level is RIGHT