High Court Dismisses Application to Halt NIA Registration in the Eastern Region
A High Court in Accra today dismissed an injunction application seeking to restrain the National Identification Authority from carrying out its ongoing registration in the Eastern Region.
According to the court, the NIA’s decision to continue with the registration did not contravene the president’s directive concerning the suspension of all public gatherings.
The court presided over by Justice Anthony Oppong explained that the directive did not stop operations of businesses but rather required operators to adopt certain protocols including social distancing.
He also added that the function of NIA as an institution of government has not been compromised in observing the protocols put in place. In addition, Justice Oppong in his ruling also likened the plaintiffs’ application to a drunken giant walking on the lips of a mosquito.
The judge gave the ruling despite attempts to file an application for the withdrawal of the case. In Justice Oppong’s view, the applicants did not get leave of the court to withdraw. The plaintiffs were also slapped with GHS3000 cost each.
Kevow Mark-Oliver and Emmanuel Akumatey Okrah, both plaintiffs sued the NIA and succeeded in securing an interlocutory injunction preventing the NIA from going ahead with the exercise. The NIA in view of that subsequently suspended the Ghana Card registration exercise in the Eastern Region due to the injunction.The exercise was suspended “pending the final determination of the application,” the NIA noted in a statement.
Before the suspension, the NIA argued that its decision to carry on with the Ghana Card registration exercise in the Eastern Region was not in violation of the directives concerning public gatherings.
There were earlier reports indicating that citizens looking to register for the card were massing at some registration centres in contravention of expert advice for curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
