The Tema High Court has granted an Interlocutory Injunction on Ada Constituency Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) restraining them from denying some card bearing members and registered voters of the Constituency from having access to the Biometric Register and also closing the public exhibition exercise.
In a writ filed October 29, 2015 by Amos Amartey Akoto, Wisdom Kwao, Divine Osei Jumpah and Rockson Moses Servom, against Emmanuel Otumfour (Constituency Chairman), Prosper Fianu Amanortey, Gad Ackwerh, Felicia Attah Akorli, Ofori Adede Otumfour and Jacob Ofori Ceaser, the Plaintiffs noted that the Defendants have resorted to some mischievous scheme to privately grant access to a Provisional Biometric Register to only selected group of members within the Constituency who are perceived to be supporters of a particular candidate.
This, according to the Plaintiffs, was being done when the Defendants who are the Executives of the party in the Constituency, refused to open the Provisional Biometric Register for public exhibition which was slated to take place on October 22, 2015 to 29th October, 2015.
According to the writ, the public exhibition of the Register was in preparation for the impending primaries of the party at various levels.
However, the Plaintiffs saw the decision by the executives not to allow some of them access to the register and also avoid public exhibition as mischievous and illegal.
They stated that by so doing, the Defendants were preventing them from verifying and confirming their names properly in the Biometric Register which will make them eligible to vote on the day of the primaries.
They also pointed out that it was a grand scheme by the Defendants to disenfranchise all members of the NDC who are perceived to be opponents of their preferred candidate.
The Plaintiffs also stated that, in all these developments, they have exhausted all party internal procedures for redress by writing numerous petitions to the appropriate quarters, but the Defendants were adamant and persistent in carrying out their mischievous actions.
According to them, they have suffered substantial hardships, damage and loss as result of the defendants’ actions since the Defendants have decided to close the register on 29th October, 2015 and return the Register back to the party headquarters containing only verified biometric data of members perceived to be supporters of their preferred candidate without having their (Plaintiffs) details.
It was in the light of these that the Plaintiffs prayed the Court to restrain the Defendants from going ahead with their intentions.
In his ruling, after hearing the affidavit of the Plaintiffs which was given by Divine Osei Jumpah and the Counsel for the Plaintiffs as well, Justice R. Adjei-Frimpong granted the order and stated that, ‘… the defendants by themselves, agents, servants, privies, Assigns, or otherwise howsoever restrained in any way depriving the plaintiffs access to the NDC Ada Constituency Provisional Biometric Voter Register without closing the public exhibition of the said Voter Register without affording the Plaintiffs ample opportunity to verify their biometric details.’
The Judge also granted the Plaintiffs the opportunity to challenge any anomalies in the said Register and ordered that the Defendants must not submit the Register to the party’s headquarters pending the final determination of the suit and gave ten days for the ruling to be enforced.
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