Attorney General goes to Supreme Court to challenge High Court’s injunction of Amewu’s swearing-in
Attorney General goes to Supreme Court to challenge High Court’s injunction of Amewu’s swearing-in
The state, through the Attorney General, has called to question the jurisdiction of the Ho High Court to grant an injunction against the swearing-in of John Peter Amewu as the Member of Parliament for the Hohoe Constituency.
In a suit, the state is asking the apex court to declare the injunction by the lower court as null and void and to further stop it from hearing the substantive case brought against Mr. Amewu and the Electoral Commission.
The State argued in the suit that the High Court’s ruling “constituted a patent error” because it did not have the capacity to hear the matter, Citinewsroom.com reported.
“The High Court has no jurisdiction under article 33 of the Constitution to entertain a matter in the nature of a parliamentary election petition and to grant any reliefs(s) interim, interlocutory or final, available in a parliamentary election commended under article 99 and section 16 of the Representation of the People’s Law, 1992 (PNDC 284).
“The proceedings of the court below and the orders emanating therefrom dated 23rd December 2020 were void as same were in violation of article 99 of the Constitution,” The plaintiff noted in their application.
The Ho High Court on December 23, 2020, presided over by Justice George Buadi has granted an interim injunction restraining the Electoral Commission from gazetting the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) John Peter Amewu as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hohoe.
Some residents in the Guan district who were not given the opportunity to vote in December 7 parliamentary elections had filed an ex parte application seeking to halt all processes regarding Hohoe constituency in the interim until the substantive case is heard.
Santrofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi are the areas within the newly created district that were only allowed to take part in the presidential election but not in the parliamentary one.
The omission by the Electoral Commission has triggered varying legal views with some suggesting that the people in the aforementioned areas would have to be without representation in parliament until the next election in December 2024.
The aggrieved residents through their lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata are demanding the enforcement of their fundamental human right to vote and be duly represented in the legislature.
Even before the substantive matter is heard, the state has gone to the Supreme Court.
The court is expected to hear the new case filed by the State on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, reports say
