The Ho High Court, presided over by Justice George Buadi, has granted an interim injunction restraining the Electoral Commission (EC) from gazetting the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) John Peter Amewu as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hohoe.
This was after an ex parte application by residents in the Guan district who were not given the opportunity to vote in parliamentary elections.
Eligible voters within areas in the newly created district, namely Santrofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi, were only allowed to take part in the presidential election on December 7, 2020.
The applicants were represented in court by Tsatsu Tsikata and are demanding the enforcement of their fundamental human right to vote.
A lawyer for the plaintiff, Nelson Kporha said “What really happened is that on the eve of the election, the EC asked them not to participate in the election, which is a denial of their fundamental human rights. The EC, in turn, told them that a constituency, which is the Guan constituency will be created for them.”
“These people from this enclave earlier on July 31 wrote to the EC in the quest to follow up on the EC’s position. Their letter was not responded to, until the eve of elections when the EC told them that they can only vote in the presidential elections. Now, the life of this Parliament comes to an end on the 6th of January. So these people are not going to be represented in the next Parliament. They did not vote for an MP, and will not be represented.”
Mr. Amewu candidate garnered 26,952 votes in his successful attempt at becoming the parliamentary representative for Hohoe while his National Democratic Congress (NDC) opponent, Margaret Kweku, polled 21,821 votes.
This was Mr. Amewu’s third try.
Read the application for injunction below;
