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Embattled General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC), Atik Mohammed has jabbed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for dropping its legal case seeking to stop the Electoral Commission (EC) from compiling a new voters' register.

The National Democratic Congress has dragged the EC to the Supreme Court seeking two reliefs.

The first relief is for the court to determine the constitutinality of the EC's decision to conduct the new voters' registration exercise as they believe it flouts their constitutional mandate while the second thing the party seeks in their suit is that the decision of the Commisison to exclude an existing voters' ID card as a form of identification for the exercise is also unconstitutional.

NDC Makes A U-turn

The party, at a Supreme court hearing on Thursday, June 12, 2020, however abandoned their first relief concerning the constitutionality of the EC’s decision to conduct the mass registration exercise.

Lawyer for the NDC, Mr Godwin Tameklo announced the party's decision after the court held that regarding their rules, a party cannot seek a relief and also ask to be granted another relief in the alternative.

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday, June 23, deliver a verdict on the second relief about whether or not the electoral management body is obliged by law to accept an existing voters’ ID card as a form of identification for the impending exercise.

Hypocrisy of NDC

To Atik Mohammed, the decision by the opposition party to take out their second relief, exposes the hyprocrisy of the National Democratic Congress.

''The hypocrisy embedded in their reliefs and the Supreme Court being that powerful forum exposed the hypocrisy that characterized the reliefs they were seeking...I would have thought that the relief they would seek is that the court should rule that the Electoral Commission shouldn't compile a new voters' register but you go there to say they shouldn't do it but even if they will do it, they should include the ID card'', he stressed and asked the party ''how do you expect the Supreme Court to rule on a matter like that?''



Contributing to a panel discussion on Friday edition of ''Kokrokoo'' on Peace FM, Atik Mohammed advised the NDC to stop deceving themselves and their supporters.

''You can't blow hot and cold. You can't say I like this and I don't like that but you have to add this or that for me to like what I don't like. It doesn't really make a lot of sense. So, I wasn't surprised that the Supreme Court, to avoid any further confusion, had to tell that...whatever they sought was confused by nature, so make clarifications...It tells you the motivation behind the opposition to this new register is not founded in law and it's not founded in facts...For the most part, it's just emotions.

''To the extent that you failed to proceed with that case tells me you've wasted all our time all this while. You just wasted our time; created needless tension in this country because what you have talking against is not even what you don't like. So, you didn't have faith in your position because if you're convinced with a case and you're giving an opportunity to advance such a case in court, you should not hesitate to make that case and do so forcefully'', he expressed his disappoinment in the NDC.