The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram Constituency, Mr Sam Nartey George has secured an injunction against the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to hold a workshop to plan and prepare for the upcoming voters’ registration exercise.
The EC had announced to hold a training workshop scheduled for April 24, to April 29, 2020, at the City Escape Hotel in the Ningo-Prampram Constituency, to be attended by commissioners, directors and senior officers.
In a statement issued few days ago, the EC said it would adhere to social distancing protocol to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease.
But the lawmaker in an ex-parte application filed at the Tema High Court argued that the decision by the Chairperson of the EC and her deputies was a flagrant disregard of the law and an abuse of legal reasoning.
Mr George said he initiated the instant action in his capacity as the MP for Ningo Prampram where City Escape Hotel, the venue for the said workshop is located.
In granting the application, the court, presided over by Justice John Eugene Nyante Nyandu said: “It is hereby ordered that the respondent and all persons claiming through the respondent refrain from holding the workshop or conference scheduled to take place at City Escape Hotel Prampram from the 24th of April 2020.”
“This order is effective from April 24, 2020, to April 27, 2020,” Justice Nyadu stated.
It is recalled that the decision by the EC to compile a new voters’ register has been greeted with mixed reaction.
Whilst the EC, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), some civil society organisations, and other opposition political parties, held the view that the current electoral roll was incurably defective and unfit for purpose, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the biggest opposition political party, also, with the support of some civil society organisations and smaller political parties, argued that the current register could be used for the 2020 elections.
Earlier this year some Ghanaians have gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the attempt by the EC to use passport and Ghana Card as the only documents for the acquisition of voters’ identification card.