MP wants Chief Justice to televise NDC vs EC case

Member of Parliament for South Dayi constituency, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor wants the Chief Justice to order the live broadcast of the case between the NDC and the Electoral Commission.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), dragged the EC to the Supreme Court over the election management body’s decision to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 elections.

The party’s case is that the EC has no authority to go ahead with its decision to compile a new voter’s register.

According to the NDC, which has not seen eye to eye with the EC over the new voters’ register, the commission could only “compile a register of voters only once, and thereafter revise it periodically, as may be determined by law”.

In a press statement issued and signed by Mr.  Dafeamekpor, he said the request for a broadcast of the case is due to the “high level of public interest” in it.

The MP, who is also a member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, contends “The outcome of this case before the Apex Court has far-reaching ramifications for every Ghanaian.”

“Having regard to the spirit that led to the live telecast of the 2012 Election Petition case in 2013 involving the current President and the Electoral Commission and HE. John Dramani Mahama, I will urge the Supreme Court (as presently constituted) to place the same interest and spirit in allowing the public to have a clear understanding of the legal proceedings that would lead to the final determination of this very important matter.”

“Indeed, my call is in consonance with the same Court’s ruling sometime in April 2013 when a similar question arose. After long drawn out arguments, the Court agreed that the Election Petition is televised live.

“Atuguba JSC (as he then was) delivered the ruling of the Court and stated inter alia that “elections in the country come with a lot of tension and acrimony and therefore it was proper for the proceedings to be telecast live on TV,” the statement added.

He further indicated that “It will, therefore, be in the public interest, and would help in the public’s appreciation of the issues in dispute and the adjudication process, for the proceedings to be telecast live.”