I disagree with Supreme Court ruling on birth certificate – Dafeamekpor

The NDC Member of Parliament for South Dayi constituency, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has described the ruling by the Supreme Court on the birth certificate as ‘shallow’.

The Supreme Court giving its full judgement on the reason to dismiss the NDC’s case brought against the Electoral Commission (EC) last month, explains that birth certificate does not establish the identity of the bearer.

However, Hon. Dafiamekpor who doubles as a member of the Judiciary Committee of Parliament in an interview with JoyNews said the decision of the Supreme Court is wrong.

“I humbly disagree with the Court. The court construed identification to mean that you should have a photograph on a certain material to be identified, which is wrong.”

“The construction that the Court placed on the term identification is wrong,” he added.

“If a person is in possession of their university transcript or certificate that is a prima facie evidence that they have attended that institution and have been issued with a certificate or transcript reflecting their academic records…that presumption is only rebutted if a verification or a search is conducted and it turns out that indeed I did not attend UCC [University of Cape Coast] or the documents that I bear which I am seeking to be linked to its contents do not reflect the output that I gave when I was in University of Cape Coast or University of Ghana,” he explained further.

He, therefore, without mincing words concluded that “for the Supreme Court to simply say that anybody who is in possession of Ghana’s birth certificate does not constitute a proper linkage of the birth certificate and the bearer is, with all due respect, shallow.”

Birth Certificate not a form of identification

Ghana’s Supreme Court has unanimously held that birth certificate is not a form of identification. The court explains that the document does not establish “the identity of the bearer”.

This is contained in the court’s judgment in the case filed by private citizen Mark Takyi Banson which court delivered judgment on June 25 together with the case filed by the opposition NDC.

While the NDC case wanted the current voter’s ID card to be used in the registration exercise, Mr. Banson made a case for the inclusion of birth certificate insisting it proves the identity of prospective voters as Ghanaians who have turned 18.

The Apex Court dismissed these reliefs and deferred its full judgment to July 15. A copy of the judgment sighted by joynews explains why the Birth certificate was rejected.

The decision written by Justice Ashie Kotey states that a birth certificate does not link its holder to the information it contains. It adds that it provides no evidence of citizenship.

The court compares it to another document it has already rejected; the National Health Insurance Cards and concludes it’s actually better than the Birth Certificate.

It is worthwhile to note that the birth certificate is used as a source document for various registrations including passports which are currently being used in voter registration.