Three Juaben students dismissed
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NDC Parliamentarian for Court
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April 2002 - Ghanaians now have confidence in the local currency. Last year, there was a substantial growth in the domestic currency deposits’ component of broad money relative to foreign currency deposits.
To that end, the Bank of Ghana (BOG) has assured that it would pursue sound policies that would give confidence to the holding of cedi-denominated assets. The first deputy Governor of the BOG, Mr Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante disclosed this at the third annual Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and Merchant Bank economic lecture and roundtable discussion held in Accra on Monday.
He said these efforts would be sustained by encouraging a deepening of the capital market as government borrowing declines and new instruments are introduced on the local bourse. Mr Asiedu-Mante said that government and the Central Bank would deepen their collaboration to ensure that monetary and fiscal policies were coordinated and complemented to deliver a suitable macroeconomic environment for growth.
The country’s macro-economic environment suffered significant turbulence in 1999-2000 with sharp depreciation of the exchange rate, high inflation, and interest rate. Fiscal slippage as a result of an external shock and an accommodating monetary policy resulted in substantial deterioration in macro-economic performance. The government and BOG, therefore on a stabilisation drive which had resulted in remarkable results. Inflation, which peaked at 41.9 per cent in March 2001 has fallen steadily to 16 percent as at the end of March this year.
Mr Asiedu-Mante who spoke on the topic “the Golden Age of Business: The role of the “Banking Sector” conceded that banking sector alone could not address all the problems facing the private sector. He therefore appealed to government to create the right environment for the private sector to strive.
“In this respect, the role of government in creating an enabling environment by investigating in infrastructure, improving the tax and other incentive regimes and establishing long-term sources of funding to support start-up enterprises and re-tooling of existing ones will be beneficial”, he said.
He said that government as a facilitator of business needs to provide the necessary infrastructure efficiently and effectively to reduce the cost of doing business. He suggested the need for government to set aside moneys that accrue from the National Reconstruction and Levy imposed on banks and set up a Venture Capital Fund which could be used to assist export oriented start-ups and micro enterprises. – Ghanaian Times.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
17 April 2002 - The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), Dr Paul Acquah, said
on Tuesday that the country’s efforts to reduce inflation is on course and
there is optimism that macro-economic targets will be achieved. He said
macro-economic aggregates, increase in reserve money and claims to the central
government, are all moving in a positive direction. Dr Acquah was speaking at a
press briefing on the performance of the economy in Accra.
He said the 2002 budget statement, which allows for significant deficit
reduction and a sharp cutback in domestic borrowing, would allow the process of
disinflation to continue. He said the successful Consultative Group Meeting,
which gave an assurance of external financing requirements for the economy
underpins the support for balance of payment for the year.
Dr Acquah, who was supported by his two deputies, said the $250 million
debt-service obligation that could have gone to debt servicing for this year
will be used to stabilise the exchange rate market for the year. He said there
has equally been a significant shift in exchange rates of the major currencies
over the last quarter and this, he said, has also helped to put the economy on
a firm ground.
Dr Acquah said inflation continues to move downwards and said at the close of
March 2002 the rate stood at 16 per cent. This, he said, is a drop of 2.3
percentage points from February and 5.3 percentage points from the beginning of
the year.
“Short term interest rates have stayed firm, converging toward the Prime Rate of
24.5 per cent,” the Governor said. Early this year, most commercial banks began
to reduce their base rate, which stood between 35-40 per cent to 27 per cent by
the end of March 2002.
He said since the Bank of Ghana instituted the Prime Rate on 4 March several
developments have taken place that have had a bearing on the macro-economic
outlook and said inflation and exchange rate expectations are likely to move in
the positive direction. Inflation in February 2002 dropped cumulatively by 21
percentage points after reaching a peak of 40.5 per cent in December 2000.
In parallel, the benchmark 91-day Treasury Bill interest rate had dropped by
cumulative 19 percentage points from 42.2 per cent at the end of the second
quarter in 2001 to 23.5 per cent in February 2002. “It is a significant
movement towards the end-of-year target of 13 per cent, and the ultimate goal
of achieving low single digit inflation,” the Governor stated, adding that, “it
is against this background that the Bank of Ghana has decided to leave the
Prime Rate unchanged at 24.5 per cent. – Daily Graphic.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region)
17 April 2002 - Authorities in the Juaben Secondary School in the Ashanti
Region have dismissed three students from the school for immoral acts. They are
Linda Dua, a final-year student, who has been granted permission to write her
SSSCE examinations, Prince Nuamah and Irene Ampofo, both second-year students.
The Board of Governors of the school endorsed the dismissal of the students at
an emergency meeting convened by the headmaster, Mr I.K. Mensah. The committee
set up to investigate the activities of the students had earlier recommended
their dismissal.
According to a source close to the investigative team, Linda was dismissed for
allegedly luring two female students from the school to a hotel in Kumasi to
trade in sex. Prince and Irene were also dismissed for indulging in sexual
impropriety in the night on the school compound at a time that their colleagues
were in bed.
Intensive investigations conducted by the Graphic indicated that it has been
the practice of Linda to lure unsuspecting female students from the school to
trade in sex with some of her male friends from Kumasi who sneak into the
school at odd hours.
The source said last February, Linda, as usual, lured two first year girls into
a waiting car brought to the school by her male friends. According to the
source, Linda told the students to accompany her to Kumasi for an important
assignment, but on reaching Kumasi, she took them to a hotel where the male
friends attempted to have sexual intercourse with them.
It said the students, who were not aware of the intentions of Linda and her
male friends, resisted their sexual demands. It said after a fierce struggle
with them, the students managed to escape from the hotel and reported the
incident to their colleagues in school, but the news later leaked to the school
authorities.
The source said the headmaster later set up a committee to investigate the
incident. The committee recommended the dismissal of Linda and the suspension
of the two first year students for leaving school without permission.
The source said Prince and Irene always sneaked out of their dormitories late
in the night for sex. It said while on one of their nocturnal activities, one
of the teachers caught them in the act and reported their conduct to the
headmaster, who later set up a committee to investigate the case.
In an interview, Mr I.K Mensah confirmed the dismissals and described the
actions of the students especially that of Linda, as abominable. He said
notwithstanding the strict disciplinary measures that have been instituted at
the school, some of the students continue to engage in highly reprehensible
acts and said the school will deal ruthlessly with any student found to have
misconducted himself or herself. He said his administration has instituted
measures not only to curb the menace but to ensure high morality and discipline
among the students for academic excellence. – Daily Graphic.
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Akufo-Addo warms up for Fast Track Court
review
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April 2002 - The Attorney-General’s Department is positioning itself for a final showdown before the Supreme Court, where it is seeking a review on the ruling that the Fast Track High Court was unconstitutional. Ms Gloria Akuffo, Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, told “The Evening News” in Accra on Monday that her office had applied to the Supreme Court for an extension of time within which to apply for a supplementary statement of case.
The application for review was filed on 1 March 2002, barely 24 hours after the ruling. She said the application for extension was necessary because at the time of filing for the review of the case, on 1 March 2002, the Supreme Court had not given its reason for the verdict. The reasons of the various judges were given on 20 March 2002.
According to Mrs Akuffo, the 1 March application for a review could not argue very well because the court was yet to give its reasons. But, under the rules, she said, the applicant is supposed to fully argue on the matter to convince the court to reverse its decision. Ms Akuffo stated, that the A-G’s office applied to the Judicial Registrar and received copies of the ruling last week.
Upon critical study of the reasons given, the Deputy Attorney-General said her outfit could find enough grounds to argue its case out. She said the application for an extension of time was filed just before the Easter holidays because the one-month period within which to respond after the ruling would have elapsed after the Easter and emphasized that the application for an extension of time was permissible in law. She said the Supreme Court is yet to fix a date for the hearing of the application.
It is recalled that, following the Supreme Court’s 5-4 majority ruling that the Fast Track High Court was unconstitutional, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Nana Akufo Addo announced that he would seek for a review of the ruling. He told a news conference that he respected the verdict of the court, but disagreed with it and would seek for a review. – The Evening News.
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Prampram
(Greater Accra) 17 April 2002 - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has
accused President Kufuor and his appointees of lacking good sense of priority
and commitment to what they preach and promise.
Accordingly,
the party has compiled all that it perceives as shortcomings of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) government to be used as ammunition by opposition foot
soldiers against the government, as the 2004 electioneering campaigns start
soon.
Kwamena
Ahwoi, the NDC wordsmith, who disclosed a few of the catalogued charges at the
party’s youth congress last weekend, questioned the President’s sense of
priority, “In the tragic period following the brutal murder of the Ya-Na,
Yakubu Andani II, and the horrendous massacre of his followers, President
Kufuor was shown on national television joyously receiving Queen Elizabeth’s
Commonwealth games baton and handing it over to his equally joyous vice, who is
a son of Dagbon, the Ya-Na’s kingdom.”
That very
evening, Mr Ahwoi alleged, the President attended a wedding party. This, and
the fact that shortly after the Accra Stadium disaster the Head of State flew
outside when, significantly that incident had forced the Asantehene, Otumfuo
Osei Tutu II, to cancel his foreign trip, showed clearly that Mr Kufuor lacked
a sense of priority, the ex-Minister charged.
Though
President Kufuor had last year declared Ghana’s independence day as the most
important one on the political calendar of the nation, he “preferred touring
Australia after the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, instead of
returning home to celebrate his most important day with his people,” Ahwoi said
to buttress his point.
The same NPP,
which in opposition coasted to victory on the promise to cut waste in
government is now wasting the taxpayer’s money without any justification at
all, Ahwoi argued. Contrary to government’s claim that most of the President’s
overseas travels are free, Ahwoi stated that they are paid-for expensive trips
as he uses commercial flights at a time when the Gulf Stream jet is sitting
idle.
He debunked
Finance Minister Osafo Maafo’s claim that he had not signed any voucher for any
payment in respect of the Gulf Stream, as a trick to doge the truth. Mr Osafo
Maafo may not be signing any cheques for it, but “we are paying from our
external account, precisely our UNIFIL account, as the agreement entered into
by former Minister Kwame Peprah was to the effect that if we don’t pay, the
money should be paid directly from the UNIFIL accounts.
From a per
diem of $75.00 which then opposition criticised what each government official
is paid on overseas trips has been hiked to $250.00, he went on. The new
government had gone back on its promise to downsize the number of ministers and
aides, and most of the promises it touted in its manifesto, while in
opposition.
The same
government that promised to discontinue the use of party cards to secure public
service jobs has now thrown out all NADMO district and regional coordinators
for their perceived sympathies for the NDC and their posts have been handed
over to card-bearing executives of the NPP, he went on.
As if all
that was not enough, the NPP continues to make more incredulous
castle-in-the-air promises to the people of Ghana. Among them, Mr Ahwoi
recounted Kwamena Bartels promised $110 million water project to be sited at
Sogakope to “supply treated water to Lome in Togo – Daily Graphic, 28 August
2001.” In the 18 August 2001 edition of the same paper, Upper East Regional
Minister, Mahama Salifu promised that the multi-billion cedi Zuarungu meat and
the Pualugu tomato factories, which had been closed down for over 20 years,
would be revamped and made operational before the end of 2001.
Promises to
rehabilitate Peduase Lodge, build development banks and libraries in each of
the 110 districts have similarly gone unfulfilled, he recounted. Government has
maintained that its programme to fulfill all its promises is on course and must
be given time as it, at least, has some two and half years to deliver.
One of the
problems militating against that determination, though, is a rundown economy
with a colossal debt of ¢41 trillion bequeathed to it by the NDC, the
government has kept insisting. Leaving no room for such an excuse, the NDC said
it used the ¢41 trillion to build solid infrastructure for the accelerated
development of the country.
“The
excellent road, electricity in all 10 regions and 110 district capitals and
about 300 settlements, a reliable, countryside telecom system, three regional
hospitals, two new universities, extended urban water supply, among others, are
what the ¢41 trillion was used for.” That was Ahwoi’s answer. – The Ghanaian
Chronicle.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 17 April 2002 - The New Patriotic Party (NPP) General
Secretary, in an instant rebuff of the attacks by Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, has asked
the National Democratic Congress (NDC) critics to stop being childish. “How can
the 15 minutes participation by the President in the Commonwealth Games
marathon be said to be a misplaced priority?” He asked when reached for
comments.
According
to Botwe, his party is in the serious business of good governance and will not
be distracted by any diversionary tactics of the NDC, except to ask them to
“stop being petty.” Botwe also denied political harassment of opponents claimed
by Ahwoi and the failure of the NPP to fulfil their campaign promises. “No
fair-minded Ghanaian can say we have failed because we were solidly laying the
foundations to better the lot of all Ghanaians.”
On the NPP
forming a bigger cabinet and keeping more ministerial aides, he contrasted his
government’s 71 ministers with the NDC’s over 80, drawing attention to the fact
that some NPP government ministers have no deputies, even though the NDC had
both deputies and special aides.
The General
Secretary debunked the NDC’s hue and cry over supposed harassment, botched
arrest and political victimization as inferior tactics to douse sustained
inquisition into their 18-year stewardship. For “how many of their ministers
and top executives have been arraigned before an investigative body?”
On the
allegation that the current government is being treated with kid’s gloves by
the media, he drew attention to the fact that at President Kufuor’s maiden press
encounter and several other times, the government had been put on the carpet by
the media. But his government is not blundering and showing the level of
intransigence the NDC did to draw the flak of the media, he concluded. – The
Ghanaian Chronicle.
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Cape Coast (Central
Region) 17 April 2002 - The Western Regional Chairman of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Alex Asamoah, has threatened to organise his
people to stage a walkout from the forthcoming national delegates congress of
the party should the congress refuse to endorse the retention of the
co-chairman clause in the party’s constitution.
The
congress, which is expected to be held in Accra within the next two weeks,
will, among other things, amend portions of the party’s constitution,
especially the clauses that deal with the founder and leader and the
co-chairman. Nana Asamoah, who was speaking at the Central Regional delegates
congress of the party in Cape Coast last Saturday, said the way things are
going if proper mechanism is not put in place, the party could suffer a split
or disintegration after the congress.
This
belief, he explained, was based on the fact that almost all those who have
declared their intention to contest the national chairmanship of the party
appear not prepared to accept defeat and the only way the situation could be
salvaged is to maintain the co-chairman post to ensure peace after the congress
and the smooth running of the party.
According
to Asamoah, all regional chairmen of the party have already met and deliberated
on the issue and that it was majority view that the co-chairman position must
be maintained if they are to have a strong force to contest the 2004 elections
which he believes NDC would surely win.
He further
told the congress, which elected Dr Ato Quarshie, the new Central Regional
Chairman of the party after polling 73 votes to beat his challenger Valis
Akyianu, that though majority of the regional chairmen have agreed to maintain
the co-chairmanship position because of the looming danger he had already explained,
it is the congress that would have to endorse it.
He called
on the party supporters all over the country not to be disturbed about the
recent defeat the party suffered during the Bimbilla bye-election, saying the
goodwill was there for them to have won the election but the NPP used
incumbency as the ruling party to its advantage. According to Asamoah it was as
if the Bank of Ghana transferred to the Bimbilla constituency judging from the
way money and in most cases bicycles were being distributed free of charge by
the ruling party to entice the people to vote for them.
The Western
Regional Chairman who also declared his intention to contest deputy treasurer
position of the party also said though NPP was preaching democratic principles
when they were in the opposition, they are now trying to subvert the very
things they were preaching about.
To ensure
that they carried out this agenda to its logical conclusion, Alex Asamoah
alleged that NPP has managed to put some of the journalists in the country in
their pockets, therefore, when they see black they would say it is white,
adding that the time has come for them to stop this if we are to ensure the
entrenchment of constitutional rule and proper practice of democracy in the
country.
Hon Samuel
Ofosu Ampofo, MP for Fanteakwa and the former deputy Eastern Regional Minister,
on his part, said NPP’s administration has increased and entrenched poverty in
the country, which the people are dissatisfied with, therefore, the NDC stands
the greater chance of winning the 2004 elections.
According
to the MP who also used the occasion to announce his intention to contest the
national organiser post at the congress, the NPP has reneged on most of the
promises they made to the people of Ghana prior to the 2000 general elections.
He named as examples the common fund which according to him they promised to
increase from 5 per cent to 7 per cent and the election of District Chief
Executives (DCEs) by universal suffrage, which they have failed to do after
realising that it would be dangerous for them to do so.
Other
officers who were elected at the congress were Mr Patrick Anni Agyei,
Organiser, Alhaji Abubakar, Treasurer, Asonaba Kofi Anderson, Propaganda Secretary,
Rebecca Forson, Women’s Organiser, Adam Coffie, Youth Organiser and Ben
Abdallah as deputy Propaganda Secretary. They were sworn into office by Hon
Tettey Kpodar, MP for Awutu Senya. – The Ghanaian Chronicle.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 17 April 2002 - A source in the Judicial Service has revealed
to the Statesman that four more Justices of the Supreme Court are to be
appointed in the next couple of weeks, primarily, to make up for the fall in
numbers over the last few years. The Supreme Court currently has eleven
Justices.
While there
is no constitutional ceiling as to the number of Supreme Court judges at any
given time, the Presidency has been remarkably slow in recent years in
appointing new faces to the Bench.
Since the
death of the former Chief Justice Mr Justice Abban and the retirement of Mr
Justice Ofori Boateng and Mr Justice Sarpong, only Justice Kwame Afreh has been
elevated to the Supreme Court Bench. Prior to last month’s appointment, the
Supreme Court consisted of the minimum number of Justices allowed by the
Constitution – ten Justices.
Recognising
the need for more appointment to the highest court of the land, the 18-member
Judicial Council, our source disclosed, is scheduled to meet next week with the
view to forwarding to the President the name of three Court of Appeal Judges
and a law lecturer, who is also in private practice.
Supreme
Court Justices are appointed by the President on the advice of the Judicial
Council, in consultation with the Council of State and with approval of
Parliament. The noble list consists of Justice Badoo, Justice Brobbey, Mrs
Justice Adenyirah and Professor Kofi Kumado of the Faculty of Law and also
Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA), University of
Ghana, Accra.
In the next
year, three Supreme Court Justices are expected to retire, namely Afreh, Ampiah
and Lamptey, who has been of poor health recently. According to Article 145 of
the Constitution, a Justice of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal may
retire at any time after attaining the age of seventy. Notwithstanding,
reaching the age of retirement, they may continue in office but only for an
extra six months, if necessary.
Last month,
the National Democratic Congress party in Parliament refused to participate en
bloc in both the vetting and voting process of Justice Afreh, arguing against
the timing of his appointment. The controversy has since petered out.
In
multi-party democracies worldwide, judicial nominees often undergo fierce
partisan opposition. US President Bush is presently locked in a congressional
battle with Democrats concerning his nominees to the Bench. A recent campaign
swing, US President Bush said he wanted a Republican-controlled Senate so he
could put conservatives on the Bench.
Tsatsu
Tsikata is currently seeking a declaration from the Supreme Court, which
challenges the constitutionality of a practice directive given by the Chief
Justice seeking to empanel all available Supreme Court judges in constitutional
cases, whenever practicable.
In the
celebrated case of Tsatsu Tsikata v Attorney-General (I), all nine available
Justices were used. Legal experts marvel at Tsikata’s writ, noting that even if
the practice statement is rendered unconstitutional, it may impliedly result in
setting aside the Supreme Court ruling that the Fast Track Court is
unconstitutional. A decision which grossly favoured the plaintiff.
An
application for review has been filed by the Attorney-General on that case. The
review is not to be heard until the court has given its decision on the
subsequent writ by Tsatsu Tsikata. The writ also seeks to place an injunction
on the Chief Justice from empanelling extra Justices, other than the original
nine that held the case, to sit on the Review panel.
In the US,
for example, the White House nor Senate Democrats, who barely control the upper
chamber, are giving any quarter in their battle over what kind of judges should
sit on the Federal Bench, and officials on both sides say they expect more
confirmation fights in the months ahead.
At the time
that Justice Afreh was being vetted last month the Democrats on the Senate
Judiciary Committee were banding together to ultimately defeat the nomination
of Charles W. Pickering Snr. to a seat on the Federal Appeals Court based in
New Orleans, provoking denunciations from Republicans.
Unlike the
low-key perception here, US judges are known to be widely and openly nominated
on ideological lines. “The President has made very clear he has definite ideas
about the kind of people he wants to fill the judiciary,” Alberto R. Gonzales,
the Chief lawyer in the White House said in an interview with the Washington
Post two weeks ago. – The Statesman.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo Region) 17 April 2002 - Confusion nearly broke out on Tuesday at a Sunyani High Court trying the Paramount chief of Acherensua Traditional Area, Nana Professor Agyewodin Adu-Gyamfi Ampem, who is charged with murder and causing unlawful harm.
This was when the pellets, which were retrieved from the body of the deceased and were to be tendered in evidence were said to be missing. According to the Brong-Ahafo Regional Chief State Attorney, Mr B. Cab-Beyuo, who is prosecuting, the pellets should have been sealed among the cartridges and other exhibits and wondered how they should get missing.
When the judge, Justice Baffoe Bonnie, said the situation was not fatal, Mr Cab-Beyuo replied that the pellets were very important for demonstration. Proceedings were halted for a few minutes until the prosecution witness, Police Chief Superintendent David Asante-Apeatu, a ballistic expert with the Criminal Investigation Department, told the court that he could describe the pellets.
The ballistic expert said that there were two pellets, three plastic wads and two shells. The two pellets were of AAA size while one of the two shells was AAA and the other BB. All the shells were 12-bore calibre. The AAA pellets were fired from the accused’s weapon and the BB also fired from another weapon. The two pellets retrieved from the body of the deceased were the AAA.
Of the three wads, two contained AAA pellets and the other BB pellets. When the three-member counsel, led by Mr F. Otu Essel, were asked to cross-examine him, they asked the court for five minutes, ‘only to announce after court’s resumption, that there was no cross-examination. Mr Justice Baffoe Bonnie adjourned the case to Monday 22nd April to enable the prosecution to the pathologist, Dr E.A. Boateng who performed the autopsy on the deceased, to testify in court. – The Ghanaian Times.
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Sunyani
(Brong Ahafo Region) 17 April 2002 - A Sunyani High Court will on 29 April
resume hearing the case of alleged electoral fraud and improprieties against John
Asiedu Nketia NDC MP for Wenchi West. Joe Danquah, NPP Parliamentary candidate
for Wenchi West in the 2000 general elections, is praying the court to nullify
the result of the election that declared Asiedu Nketia as the winner.
In a
petition filed by Nana Obiri-Boahen, counsel for Joe Danquah, Asiedu Nketia,
was alleged to have resorted to some clandestine and mischievous moves by way
of carting in his vehicle an undisclosed number of ballot boxes from
Akianyankrom to Bui Camp “in the full glare of the petitioner.”
According
to the petition, Joe Danquah appeared helpless at the time for fear of being
brutalised by Nketia’s commandos’, who were allegedly in his vehicle. The
petition further alleged that the NDC’s collated results were detected to have included
results from four ‘ghost polling stations”, instead of the 141 polling stations
in the constituency.
Accordingly,
the District Electoral Officer and the Returning Officer, together with the
party agents, apart from the NDC agents who were said to have “registered their
resentment as they left to jubilate over the votes of 12,030 attributed to
them, agreed that the results could not be collated and that the figure
collated for the parliamentary election remained unacceptable.
This
consensus followed the inability of the Election Officers to furnish all the
ballot boxes for identification and matching to unravel the mystery surrounding
the four foreign boxes or ghost polling station. “Consequently, no results were
declared and indeed no Results Declaration Forms were provided by the District
Election Officer and the Returning Officer for signing, since the request for
the double check of the collated results could not be made due to their
ineptitude,” the petitioner further alleged.
According
to the petition, both Officers admitted that Joe Danquah’s agent had raised the
issue of an excess of four results on the NDC’s collated list that some of the
ballot boxes had been sent to Wenchi. The District Election Officer was also
alleged to have admitted that some ballot boxes containing vast votes had been
dumped in front of his locked offices at Wenchi at dawn, and till day bread,
while collation of results was still in progress at Nsawkaw.
In the
accompanying affidavit, Joe Danquah contended that the entire drama surrounding
the purported declaration of Asiedu Nketia as winner of the Wenchi West
parliamentary election was tainted with fraud, “albeit the entire results so
far declared must be declared null and void.”
In response
to the petition, Asiedu Nketia, however, denied the allegation of any four
extra ballot boxes and contended that the results released in his favour were
based on the number of votes he obtained per the ballot boxes from 141 pulling
stations “only comprised in the constituency.”
A motion on
Notice filed by Obiri Boahen, counsel for petitioner had prayed the court to
restrain the Electoral Commission from recognising Asiedu Nketia as MP for
Wenchi West. It had also sought relief to restrain the Commission from
gazetting him as MP for the area.
An
affidavit filed opposition by K. Sarfo Kantanka, Legal Practitioner and Deputy
Chairman (Finance and Administration) of the EC, described the motion as being
“totally misconceived incompetent.”
He argued
further that under the provisions of the Section 18 of the Representation of
the People Law, 1992 PNDC 284, a petition of this nature can only be presented
within 21 days after publication of the gazette of the results of the elections
to which it relates and “that at the time of presenting the petition herein no
gazette had been published.” – The Statesman.
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