The Supreme Court has fixed 30 March 2021 to rule on a review application which gave the Electoral Commission the go-ahead to gazette John Peter Amewu as the MP for Hohoe.
The court, presided over by Justice Yaw Appau, fixed the date after Grace Ewool, the chief state attorney, and Tsatsu Tsikata had argued their cases.
Tsikata, who was representing the residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL), argued that the Supreme Court erred fundamentally when it quashed a decision by the Ho high court which granted an injunction to residents of the areas in dispute.
He said the court breached the residents’ fundamental human rights when it quashed an order by the Ho high court which placed an injunction on the Electoral Commission from presenting Amewu as the then MP-elect for Hohoe.
Election petition vs human rights
Ewool opposed the review application and relied on the 5 January 2021 statement of case filed by the state.
She said the matters raised by Tsikata had been determined by the Supreme Court and counsel was only rehashing those arguments.
Ewool argued that neither had counsel for SALL raised any new and significant matters to warrant the granting of the review application.
On 5 January this year, a five-member panel of judges presided over by Justice Yaw Appau held, in a unanimous decision, that the Ho high court erred in granting the order because it did not have the jurisdiction to do so.
The Supreme Court held that while the Ho high court’s decision was about the election petition, the original case, which invoked the jurisdiction of the court, was about human rights violations.
It argued that it was, therefore, strange that the orders of the Ho high court were about Amewu’s election, rather than the denial of the people of SALL’s right to vote.
It therefore annulled all proceedings of the court sitting overseen by Justice George Buadi which granted the injunction placing a freeze on Amewu’s gazetting.
Why Amewu?
On 23 December 2020, the Ho high court granted an injunction aimed at preventing the EC from gazetting John Peter Amewu as the MP-elect.
The applicants insisted they had been denied their right to vote in Hohoe after the creation of the Oti Region, which warranted the creation of a new constituency. Their communities now lie within the boundaries of Oti, while the remainder of the Hohoe constituency remains part of Volta. The alternative is to become part of the electorate in the neighbouring Buem..
The Supreme Court also held that, as of 5 January 2020, the Ho high court order of 23 December last year was non-existent, as the ten-day injunction granted by the court had elapsed.
In his ruling, Justice Appau said, “Our jurisdiction does not extend to CI 128, guiding the conduct of the Electoral Commission. It is the EC who must correct the issue regarding the Buem constituency.
“Whether they [the people of SALL] should vote at the Buem constituency is not the issue before us. It is a matter between the interested parties and the Electoral Commission.
“If the interested parties were denied the right to vote, what has that got to do with the gazetting of the Hohoe MP-elect? He is not an agent of the EC, neither did he perform any decision for the EC, so why should he be the point of discussion?
“If the contention of the SALL people is that Amewu was not duly elected because of infractions, that would have been different, but that is not the case here,” Justice Appau said.
Aiming to block
Among other things, the Attorney General was seeking a prohibition order to prevent the Ho high court from hearing the substantive case on the disenfranchisement of the people of SALL.
But the Supreme Court set that aside and gave Justice Buadi the right to continue hearing the rest of the case, which relates to allegations of human rights violations.
The state had made an application at the Supreme Court to fight an injunction placed on Amewu by the Ho high court.
The injunction was granted after certain residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) argued that the Electoral Commission’s failure to allow them to vote in the 2020 parliamentary elections amounted to a breach of their rights.
The injunction secured by the residents aimed to prevent the EC from gazetting Peter Amewu as the winner of the Hohoe parliamentary polls.
The residents said that the creation of the Oti Region, coupled with a recent Supreme Court decision and the EC’s failure to create a constituency for them, meant they did not vote for a parliamentary candidate in the just-ended election.
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