[ 2016-06-30 ]

Abu Ramadan peeved over EC snub
A former National Youth Organiser of the
People’s National Convention (PNC) has expressed
his disappointment in the Electoral Commission
(EC) over its failure to serve him copies of
documents regarding National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS) registrants.

Abu Ramadan said the Commission was supposed to
have served his legal team copies of the documents
it submitted to the court registry out of good
faith but this was disregarded.

“I believe in the spirit of good faith they
[EC] would have served us copies of the documents
which they have not and I am surprised about
that,” he said.

The EC submitted five medium size jute bags
filled with documents suspected to be NHIS
registrants to the registry of the court as per
the order of the Supreme Court on June 23.

Joynews' checks revealed the documents were
initially taken to the Chief Justice's office
where they were inspected before authorising them
to be sent to the registry of the court.

Clarifying the court’s earlier ruling on May 5
which ordered the EC to take immediate steps to
rid the electoral roll of ghost names, names of
minors and NHIS registrants, a panel made up of
five Supreme Court judges warned the Commission to
desist from acts that are likely to plunge the
country into chaos.

The court presided by the Chief Justice, Georgina
Wood ordered the EC to furnish it with the list of
NHIS registrants and the process it intends to use
to carry out the deletion process.

Many people found this worrying as they claimed
the Commission would be unable to do what the apex
court has requested of it.

They accused the Supreme Court of unnecessarily
meddling in the affairs of the Commission.

However, in what has taken many people aback, the
EC submitted the documents to the court registry
minutes after 2p.m. The registry in turn requested
the legal team of the plaintiffs be copied those
documents.

Reacting to the development on Joynews, Mr
Ramadan was unforgiving, saying, the EC has
refused to copy his legal team the document it
submitted to the court registry.

The EC's action, he said smacks of a deliberate
agenda to ambush them in court.

He revealed his legal team will interrogate every
action of the EC to ensure the right document and
process is used in carrying out the work.

“They should tell us how they managed to get
those names first and foremost. We should have
clarity on the legitimacy of those names,” he
said.

“It is not just about conjuring those names and
putting them down on a piece of paper and present
it to the court, but whether those names exist in
the register and whether those names are persons
who used the NHIS card and also whether that is
the entirety of the names in the register are the
focus,” he said.

This, he said, would not be done for his benefit
and that of his legal team but the “court itself
must also satisfy itself before the list will be
approved.”

The EC is expected to appear before the Supreme
Court today Thursday, June 30, 2016 over the
electoral roll.

Source - Myjoyonline.com

... go Back