SALL a cardinal sin of the 8th Parliament - Kwaku Azar

A US-based Ghanaian lawyer, Professor Kwaku Asare, aka Kwaku Azar’s tirade against parliament is thickening following the legislature’s refusal to immediately reach out to the Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL)people in their inability to vote and get a representation in parliament.

The law Professor described the SALL situation as the cardinal sin of the 8th Parliament.

“We cannot say we are democrats and close our eyes to the stark reality that some of our citizens do not have representation in Parliament, contrary to the Constitution and basic tenets of representative government,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Kwaku Azar earlier in a similar post asked the Speaker of Parliament and the House to take immediate steps towards the reparation of the wrongs made against the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) in the December 07 general elections.

He believes that a constitutional crisis was created on December 6 when the EC issued an unconstitutional directive to voters of these areas to stay away from the parliamentary elections.

The outspoken lawyer has maintained that Parliament has no such discretion when it comes to the disenfranchisement of #SALL, insisting that “The Speaker and Members must call for an immediate atonement of that cardinal sin.”

Eligible voters within areas in the newly created district; namely Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi, were only allowed to take part in the presidential election but could not vote in the parliamentary election because a constituency had not been created for them.

This triggered an ex parte application filed by residents of the Guan District who were not given the opportunity to vote in the parliamentary elections on December 7, 2020.

The Ho High Court presided over by Justice George Boadi on December 23, 2020, granted an injunction after SALL residents argued that their inability to vote in the just-ended parliamentary election amounted to a breach of their rights.

But the State through a Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame, filed a motion at the Supreme Court to fight the injunction placed on Amewu by the Ho High Court.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision quashed the orders made by the Ho High Court placing an interim injunction on the gazetting and swearing-in of Member of Parliament for the Hohoe constituency, John Peter Amewu.

The panel however 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.