Prof Asare Sends Message To EC Over SALL

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Fellow in Public Law and Justice with the Ghana Centre For Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Prof Stephen Kweku Asare, has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to organise a parliamentary election for the people in the Guan District.

“You’ve created a problem so organise an election in Guan constituency immediately, take an extraordinary step to lay the CI and organise the election for them because that’s what you promised them,” he said.

His comment comes after the Supreme Court dismissed a case against the gazetting of John Peter Amewu as Hohoe Member of Parliament-elect as the Guan district remains without a representative in Parliament after being excluded from the 2020 parliamentary elections.

This, according to the EC, was because the district has no constituency, therefore, could only participate in the presidential elections.

Speaking on PM Express Monday, Prof. Asare said it is not too late for the EC to correct the error it made.

“Ordinarily, it will be late because everybody belongs to a constituency but where you have created the problem, and you have disenfranchised some people in the country, you cannot say well, it’s too late now so you guys should give it to God, No,” he insisted.

The legal practitioner said the EC’s decision not to allow the people to partake in the exercise was a violation of Ghana’s constitution, therefore, the Commission must seek a court declaration on the act.

According to him, though the constitution stipulates that once a new Parliament has been inaugurated, a new constituency cannot be created, the case of SALL is exceptional and needs to be attended to.

He further opined that people, who flout the law, must be held accountable, adding that one cannot simply undo a law by fiat.

“There are no consequences for violating the law, people are harmed and they are not compensated, a person who violates the constitution is not held accountable [and so] life goes on. We need to change that culture,” he told Evans Mensah.

The CDD-Ghana Fellow noted that “we are now in an extraordinary environment and that extraordinary environment calls for extraordinary solution.

“And in my mind that extraordinary solution is the one that I have been recommending since December 6. This was the path as far back as December 7th and remains the only viable path.”

By: Adomonline