The Chief Registration Review Officer (CRRO) of the Upper West Region has upheld the decision to suspend two voters’ registration applicants in the Zimoupare Temp Booth Electoral Area.
The complaint was filed with the District Registration Review Committee (DRRC) by an agent of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Dery against Richard Barnes and Paul Lawson Walter.
Supervising Wa High Court Judge, Justice Kwasi Boakye sitting as the Chief Registration Review Officer in his ruling stated that the two appellants could not show the family house at Zimoupare at whose electoral area they went to register.
“I find no such evidence from the record of the appeal and neither could the appellants produce same at the appeal. Consequently, I find and hold that the appellants’ inability or failure to show empirical proof that they reside or are ordinary resident at Zimoupare, they cannot be registered as voters thereat within the meaning of C.I. 91.
“The history of accounts and merely saying that they reside or are ordinary thereat is not enough. The appeal is hereby dismissed,” he further stated.
Justice Kwasi Boakye noted that the appellants are disqualified from registering as voters in the district on the grounds of lack of proof of residence or are ordinary residence.
He added: “This decision does not mean to suggest that the appellants are barred and or banned from registering as voters. The point is that they cannot register at Zimoupare Temp Booth Electoral Area because they have not shown that they reside or are ordinary residents there. If they can show that they are residents or are ordinary residents at Mamma Mia Royal Hotel and Resort for example where they claimed to be working, they can register as Ghanaian citizens to vote.”
On July 25, 2020, Richard Barnes and Paul Lawson Walter went to to the Zimoupare Temp Booth Area in the Nandom constituency to register as voters for the upcoming general election to be conducted by the Electoral Commission.
In the course of the registration, Dery Clever Peter who is an agent of the NDC challenged the duo on the basis that they do not reside or they are not ordinary residents within the electoral area.
The District Registration Review Committee (DRRC) assumed the challenge, heard and determined same.
In its decision, the DRRC disqualified the appellants on the grounds that they do not satisfy the requirements of regulation 1of C.I. 91.
Dissatisfied with the decision, they appealed against the said decision to the Chief Registration Review Officer established under regulation 21(1), hence the decision.