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“…I don’t want to interpret the judgment but as you heard it the Supreme Court was quite forthright and clear that the use of the NHIS cards is unconstitutional..." says Justice Jones Dotse.

Justice Dotse, who was a member of the panel of Supreme Court Judges who ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to delete the names of those who registered with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards as proof of identity ahead of the 2016 elections was commenting on the decision of the EC not to remove those names.

In 2014, former National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako won a suit in which the Supreme Court unanimously granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Electoral Commission from using the National Health Insurance Card as an identity card for voter registrations.

The two were seeking true and proper interpretation of Article 42 of the Constitution in relation to the use of the NHIS card as a proof of qualification to register as a voter pursuant to Public Elections.

The SC subsequently ruled on May 5th that the names be deleted.

Apart from that, the Electoral Commission must "takes steps immediately to delete or as is popularly known ‘clean” the current register of voters to comply with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution, and applicable laws of Ghana; [and] That any person whose name is deleted from the register of voters by the Electoral Commission pursuant to order (a) above be given the opportunity to register under the law." 

However, the EC at an Inter - Party Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, May 19, 2016, said the Supreme Court’s May 5 ruling on the voters’ register did not instruct them to purge the voters’ register of persons who used the NHIS cards as a form of identification for their registration.

They further claimed that after studying the ruling, their understanding does not also suggest the use of any new process to delete the names of those who registered with NHIS cards, other than the existing processes for removing ineligible voters.

Contrarily, Justice Dotse speaking to the media on Thursday, said the ruling was very 'clear' and urged people who don't understand the ruling to go back to court. 

“…I don’t want to interpret the judgment but as you heard it the Supreme Court was quite forthright and clear that the use of the NHIS cards is unconstitutional because the criterion for the NHIS cards was not based on Ghanaian citizenship but only on residents in Ghana. So any foreigner who is resident in Ghana for six months and more can register under the NHIS card; that was the basis for our decision in 2014. The recent one we said the use of the NHIS cards is therefore unconstitutional; they should take the opportunity to clean the register of those undesirable persons. Therefore we also did not want to disenfranchise anybody; so the Supreme Court went on to say anybody who will be affected by that exercise must be given the opportunity to register according to the law and the constitution….I don’t want to interpret the judgment; if anybody disagrees, they should come back to the court" he indicated.