[ 2012-04-18 ]

Chief Justice appoints ten chief registration officers
The Chief Justice, Mrs. Justice Georgina T. Wood,
has appointed each Supervising High Court Judge in
each of the ten regions of Ghana as Chief
Registration Officers.

According to a statement issued by Mrs Grace A.
Tagoe, Director of Communications for the Judicial
Secretary: “Their main function is to determine
appeals against the decisions of the District
Registration Committees made in respect of claims,
objections and challenges that may arise during
the ongoing biometric registration exercise taking
place nationwide.”

Below is the statement

The Hon. Lady Chief Justice, Mrs. Justice Georgina
T. Wood, in the exercise of the powers conferred
on her by Section 19 of the Public Elections
(Registration of Voters) Regulations 2012 C.I. 72,
has appointed each Supervising High Court Judge in
each of the ten Regions of Ghana as Chief
Registration Officers.

Their main function is to determine appeals
against the decisions of the District Registration
Committees made in respect of claims, objections
and challenges that may arise during the ongoing
biometric registration exercise taking place
nationwide.

C.I. 72, which was publicly gazetted on February
21, 2012, replaces The Public Elections
(Registration of Voters) Regulations, 1995 which
has since been revoked.

Section 17 of C.I. 72 provides for the
establishment of a District Registration Review
Committee which shall examine challenges related
to the registration of voters in the district. The
functions of the Committee, which are spelt out in
Section 18, mandate the Committee upon receipt of
a completed voter registration form of a
challenged applicant and the completed voter
registration challenge form, to among other things
take evidence from the concerned parties, examine
relevant documents, call witnesses to testify and
carry out any investigation relevant to the issue.
The Committee shall for the purpose of taking
evidence and calling witnesses have the same
powers as a District Court.

Under Section 21 of C.I. 72, the Electoral
Commission is to compile a provisional register
for each polling station not later than three
months after the completion of the registration
process. Under Section 22, the Commission is to
display the provisional register for public
exhibition at the registration centre.

Section 24 of C.I. 72, provides for claims and
objections to be made after the publication of the
provisional register of voters. Under Section 25
(1), a district officer of the Commission upon
receipt of claims and objections from the
exhibition officer, must submit them to the
District Registration Review Officer for
determination. For this purpose, the District
Court Magistrate shall be the District
Registration Review Officer per Section 25 (3).

Section 25 (4) provides that in the event that a
District Court does not exist in the district or
the chairperson of the District Court is absent, a
Judge of the High Court, who is appointed the
Chief Registration Review Officer of the region,
shall appoint a lawyer of not less than three
years standing and who is preferably resident in
the district to be the District Review Officer.
The Chief Registration Review Officer is to report
these appointments to the Chief Justice.

Under Section 25 (8), a person aggrieved by the
decision of the District Registration Review
Officer may appeal to the High Court.

All Supervising High Court Judges and Magistrates
have been furnished with copies of C.I. 72 to
apprise themselves of its contents. Additionally,
the Judicial Training Institute (JTI) will soon
commence training for these judges and magistrates
to enable them to effectively discharge their
functions under C.I. 72.


SGD)
GRACE A. TAGOE (MRS.)
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
FOR: JUDICIAL SECRETARY

Source - MyjoyOnline

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