Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu, can now hold himself as MP-elect of Hohoe Constituency after a five-member Supreme Court quashed a High Court’s decision to injunct the Electoral Commission from gazetting the results of the constituency.
The panel headed by Justice Yaw Appaw said the application by renowned lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata is of no merit and does not apply to the MP’s position.
The Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame on behalf of the state filed a motion at the Supreme Court to fight the injunction placed on Amewu as MP-elect for Hohoe by the Ho High Court.
The injunction was granted after some residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) argued that the Electoral Commission’s failure to allow them to vote in the just-ended parliamentary elections amounted to a breach of their rights.
They said, the creation of the Oti Region, coupled with a recent Supreme Court decision and failure of the EC to create a constituency for them, meant they did not vote for a parliamentary candidate in the just-ended election.
It is the case of the state that John Peter Amewu’s victory in the Hohoe parliamentary election was gazetted a day before the residents of SALL went to the High Court to place an injunction on the process.
Godfred Dame further argued that the High Court in exercising its human rights oversight had no jurisdiction to grant the injunction as the SALL residents did not go through the proper procedure.
He further added that the residents of SALL do not belong to the Volta Region where the Hohoe constituency is found therefore cannot challenge the election of the Member of Parliament.
On the other hand, lawyers of the residents of SALL argued that the action by the Electoral Commission to deny their clients from voting in the parliamentary election in Hohoe is a breach of the fundamental human rights, administrative justice and the right to equality before the law.
Source: Daily Mail GH
Email Daily Mail GH: stories@dailymailgh.com or
Whatsapp: +233(0)509928122
