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An Accra high court ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to register Cape Coast North’s parliamentary candidate, Dr. Kwamena Mintah Nyarku.
This follows a mandamus petition filed in the Superior Court to force the EC to register him after a Cape Coast Superior Court, to which he appealed, said his constitutional right to register had not been destroyed.
On July 16 this year, during the EC voter registration exercise, Dr. Mintah Nyarku went to register with the Nkanfoa electoral college, but was challenged on the grounds that the house number he submitted did not give him belonged.
The electoral body said it did not meet the usual resident and permanent resident conditions that qualify someone to register in a particular polling area.
Subsequently, the EC withdrew his card. The District Registration Review committee directed the Commission to continue to retain the candidate’s card.
The candidate then exercised his right to appeal to the Director of Registry Review in Cape Coast Superior Court.
Subsequently, Kwamena Mintah Nyarku lost the appeal, but the court chaired by Ms Patience Mills-Tetteh explicitly stated that her right to register and vote had not been restricted.
The Court also noted that the candidate could effectively register in the electoral area where his residence is located.
The candidate’s lawyer, Godwin Kudzo Tameklo, filed a mandamus order in the Accra High Court addressed to the EC to register the applicant as a voter on the basis that the applicant has met the constitutional requirements under article 42 of the Constitution Ghana 1992.
The affidavit submitted by the candidate indicated that the Director of Registration Review in Cape Coast, despite dismissing his appeal, clearly indicated in his decision on page 12 that the candidate’s right to register and vote had not been restricted.
Based on the findings of the Head of Registry Review and in accordance with article 42 of the 1992 Constitution, he requested the EC to register as a voter in the Pedu electoral area where he resides and grew up there.
He further stated that the EC, however, has not registered it or has forgotten to register it despite the fact that the Registry Director had indicated that it could be registered once its “residence is properly located”.
The candidate further claimed that his lawyer has warned him that he will suffer greatly as a parliamentary candidate in the unlikely event that he is not registered as a voter, as a person can only compete and become a member of Parliament if he is a registered voter. in the sense of article 94 (1) (a) which establishes that: “Without prejudice to the provisions of this article, a person may not be a member of parliament unless: (a) he is a citizen of Ghana, has reached the age of twenty-one and is a registered voter ”.
On Tuesday, the High Court issued a writ of mandamus forcing the EC to register it, as no court of competent jurisdiction has prevented the candidate from registering.
