NDC Sets Up Committee To Review Supreme Court Ruling On Birth Certificate - Dafeamekpor Hints

The Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi Constituency in the Volta Region, Hon Nelson Dafeamekpor has hinted that the NDC will seek a review of the judgement by the Supreme Court on the birth certificate case.

The full judgment written by Justice Prof. Ashie Kortey held that the birth certificate does not offer an identity to a bearer as a proof of citizenship.

The court however compares the birth certificate to another document it has already rejected; the National Health Insurance Cards with the conclusion that it is actually better than the Birth Certificate.

But Hon. Dafeamekpor has indicated in an interview that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has set up a committee to review the ruling, then after decide on the way forward.

“We are studying it as a party. It has far reaching consequences, because for the Supreme Court to pronounce categorically without giving justification that where a person who is in possession of a birth certificate issued by the statutory institution, Births and Deaths Registry of the Republic of Ghana, does not in any way link the content of that birth certificate to the identity of the bearer is problematic,” he said.

He therefore added that the Supreme Court in its ruling failed to analyze the issue of identity but proceeded to make a categorical statement; emphasizing that a person’s identity does not always mean that you must look at their photograph.

The Minority in Parliament has described as absurd the reason given by the Supreme Court for its judgment against the use of birth certificate as a proof of citizenship.

According to the NDC MPs, the judgment itself contains a grave error in which the main complainant, the National Democratic Congress, (NDC) is referred to as National Democratic Party (NDP).