Hohoe was split so Amewu could win – Segbefia

A spokesperson for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) legal team Alex Segbefia says the Electoral Commission deliberately decided to cut off some communities from the Hohoe constituency so that John Peter Amewu could win the seat.

According to him, the claim that the disenfranchised people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) fall under the Buem constituency is baseless.

“Hohoe was split so Amewu could win. The people of SALL insisted they wanted to be part of Hohoe before the elections. They don’t fall in Buem, Buem is a red-herring. Even the EC says a new constituency should be created for them. The EC recognize that the people don’t want to be part of the Buem constituency. Who campaigned in Buem? All the contestants for the Hohoe seat campaign in SALL,” he told Lantam Papanko on GHone TV Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the 2020 National Democratic Congress parliamentary candidate for the Hohoe constituency, Prof. Margaret Kweku and four others have petitioned the Ho High Court to annul the election results of the current Hohoe Member of Parliament (MP), John Peter Amewu.

According to the petitioners, the failure of the Electoral Commission to allow them to vote in the parliamentary elections breached their rights guaranteed under the constitution.

The other petitioners include Simon Alan Opoku Mintah, John Kwame Obimpeh, Godfred Koku Kofie, and Felix Quarshie, all residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL).

Attached is the full petition:

DENNISLAWNEWS_PETITION AGAINST AMEWU ON HOHOE CONSTITUENCY ELECTION

The petition comes a week after the Supreme Court unanimously granted the Attorney General’s application to set aside the Ho High Court injunction on Hohoe MP-elect Peter Amewu.

The unanimous decision of the apex court presided over by Justice Yaw Appau in granting the application said the interested parties did not say anything for the justification of the orders of injunction that was granted.

The court said Peter Amewu has nothing to do with the denial of the EC not to allow the people of SALL to vote. The Court said, Peter Amewu is also not an official of the EC but only presented himself up for a contest and won.

The court said the interim injunction granted was for 10 days and had long elapsed on January 2, 2021, before the decision of the court.

But the panel unanimously declined the AG’s request seeking an order to prohibit the High Court of Justice George Boadi, from further hearing or conducting proceedings in the said suit.

Injunction

The injunction was granted after some residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) argued that the Electoral Commission’s failure to allow them to vote in the just-ended parliamentary elections amounted to a breach of their rights.

They said, the creation of the Oti Region, coupled with a recent Supreme Court decision and failure of the EC to create a constituency for them, meant they did not vote for a parliamentary candidate in the just-ended election.

It is the case of the state that John Peter Amewu’s victory in the Hohoe parliamentary election was gazetted a day before the residents of SALL went to the High Court to place an injunction on the process.

Godfred Dame further argued that the High Court in exercising its human rights oversight had no jurisdiction to grant the injunction as the SALL residents did not go through the proper procedure.

He further added that the residents of SALL do not belong to the Volta Region where the Hohoe constituency is found therefore cannot challenge the election of the Member of Parliament.

On the other hand, lawyers of the residents of SALL argued that the action by the Electoral Commission to deny their clients from voting in the parliamentary election in Hohoe is a breach of the fundamental human rights, administrative justice and the right to equality before the law.