The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has proposed the annulment of the 2020 parliamentary elections in the Buem constituency.
According to him, this will pave way for a fresh poll that will allow residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) who were disenfranchised to vote and duly represented in the 8th Parliament.
“It is not in doubt that the MP for Buem does not represent the people of SALL even though the people have been placed there. Indeed, the reason why we have to annul the 2020 Buem parliamentary elections is to ensure that the SALL areas are given the right representation now,” he said on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday.
During the 2020 General Elections, residents of SALL could not participate in the Parliamentary Elections held in the Buem Constituency.
The development was due to an administrative demarcation by the Electoral Commission (EC).
In a statement dated 6th December 2020, the EC said the SALL residents, who fall within the Guan District, could not vote because it had not been created.
But Mr Dame has stressed proper allocation of areas and an election is a way to go to ensure proper representation of the SALL residents.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no law that places SALL under the Buem Constituency. It is only C. I 128 that places SALL under the Buem Constituency. There is no other law at all.
“So the way to go if we indeed want to achieve representation of the SALL people in the lifetime of the Parliament is to ensure that proper areas that have been allocated in the proper constituencies that have been created will be ordering a proper election to include the people of SALL in the Buem Constituency. And we first have to allow that,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he indicated that the constitutional instrument (C.I) needed to create the new Guan constituency is with the Electoral Commission and will be laid in the House soon.
Listen to the Minister in the audio above: