Mornah To Fight �Biometric Verification� Next

General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC), Bernard Anbataayela Mornah says he will next challenge Constitutional Instrument (CI) 75 on Biometric Registration and Verification requirement for voting in Ghana because in his view, it constitutes an affront to the national Constitution. While contributing to discussions on Radio Gold�s Alhaji and Alhaji on Saturday, Mornah posited that CI 75 is a bad law, and bad laws should not stay to cause harm before they are remedied. The CI 75 was laid in Parliament on August 14, 2012 in accordance with Article 11 (7) of the Constitution and became law after the expiration of the mandatory 21 Parliamentary sitting days. CI 75 replaced the Public Elections Regulations, 1996 (CI 15) and the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2012 (CI 72) and apart from supporting the Biometric Registration and Verification system, defines other matters connected to the election process in the country. It provides the basis for the present election petition before the Supreme Court chalenging the legitimacy of President Mahama as the winner of the 2012 presidential election. The petition is filed by three leaders of the New Patriotic Party, namely Nana Akufo-Addo, Presidential candidate in the 2012 elections and his runnning mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as well as well as NPP chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. Fresh from the favourable decisions he obtained on Tuesday at the Supreme Court which ruled among other things that Rule 71B of CI 74 which sought to extinguish the constitutional right to seek a review of a decision of the Supreme Court in presidential election petitions was unconstitutional, Mornah reminded all Ghanaians that they have a duty to defend the national constitution. �I think that it is now time to begin to look at it� whether those other things do not conflict with the laws of Ghana; do not conflict with the constitution... Every citizen of this nation must be guided that we are enjoined by the words of the national anthem to uphold, defend and protect not only the good name of Ghana but also the constitution,� he said. Bernard Mornah said he had already discussed his concerns on the CI 75 with his counsel and the prospects looked good. He will not be perturbed by the number of persons berating him for seeking to do what is right, insisting that he went to court to challenge sections of CI 74 because they were in conflict with the constitution of Ghana. The Supreme Court also outlawed Rule 69C (5) of CI 74 which required the Court to sit from day-to-day, including public holidays when hearing a presidential election petition. It said it was unconstitutional because it violated the Public Holidays Act.