AG Files Motion At Supreme Court To Fight Injunction Against Amewu’s Victory, Swearing-In
The State, through the office of the Attorney General, has filed a motion on notice at the Supreme Court to overturn an interim injunction placed by the Ho High Court to stop the Electoral Commission from gazetting the parliamentary results of the Hohoe Constituency won by Energy Minister John Peter Amewu in the just-ended general elections.
The interim injunction granted by the court, presided over by Justice George Buadi, followed an ex parte application by eligible voters in the newly-created Guan district.
The applicants also prayed the court to restrain Mr Amewu from presenting himself to be sworn in as MP for the area or from holding himself out as such.
The eligible voters, who are resident in the newly-created districts which include Santrofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi, were not allowed to vote in the December 7 parliamentary elections.
As a result of the creation of the Oti Region and the subsequent creation of the Guan District which includes Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL), the Electoral Commission of Ghana gave a directive that the people of SALL should not vote in the parliamentary election in the Hohoe Constituency on December 7.”
Mr Amewu polled 26,952 votes to beat the main opposition National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Margaret Kweku, who polled 21,821 votes.
Meanwhile, the EC has revealed that it will begin the process of creating a new constituency in the Guan District when Parliament commences in 2021.
The AG, among others, is seeking an order of certiorari directed at the Ho High Court, to bring to the apex court, for the purpose of being quashed, the orders of the Court dated 23 December 2020 in Suit No. E12/40/2021 titled: ‘In the matter of an application under Article 33 of the Constitution, 1992 and order 67 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I.47) and the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court between Professor Margaret Kweku, Simon Alan Opoku-Mintah, John Kwame Obompeh, Godfried Koku Fofie, Felix Quarshie and the Electoral Commission, Wisdom Kofi Akpakli, John-Peter Amewu and The Attorney-General’.
The AG is also seeking an order prohibiting the Ho High Court from further hearing or conducting of proceedings in the matter.
The State argues that the orders of the Ho High Court constituted a “patent error on the face of the record to the extent that they purported to confer on the applicants (interested parties herein), non-existent voting rights in respect of the Hohoe Constituency in the Volta Region”.