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New Voters’ Register: Supreme Court delivers judgement on June 23
Supreme Court of Ghana has adjourned judgement for case between the Electoral Commission(EC) and the National Democratic Congress(NDC) over compilation of new voter register to Tuesday, June 23, 2020.
The NDC is challenging the EC’s decision to exclude an existing voters’ ID as a prerequisite for the registration exercise.
Making his submission, lawyer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Edudzi Tamekloe said, the Supreme Court had held earlier in the Abu Ramadan and Another vrs EC case that existing voters’ register is for all practical purposes the prima facie evidence of nationality.
That assertion he said had not been rebutted by defendants.
He further told the court that it does not lie in the mouth of the Attorney General, (A-G) to say that all elections held in the country are tainted with illegality.
The Deputy Attorney General, who represented the (A-G), Godfred Yeboah Dame said, the NDC’s case is unmeritorious.
The Commission led by Lawyer Justin Amenuvor in their legal arguments described the card as a fruit of a “poisoned tree.”
Following this the seven-member panel led by the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah adjourned the case to June 23 for its judgement.
The Supreme Court on June 4 gave the EC up until June 8 to justify its stance. The commission has complied raising six legal issues to attempt to get the court to agree with it.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
