I would have still won the election if SALL residents had voted in Hohoe - Amewu

The Member of Parliament for Hohoe, John Peter Amewu has said he only went into the parliamentary elections as a player and not a referee.

He said he does not also constitute the rules that were put in place for the polls because he was only a contestant.

He was responding to a question over the inability of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) residents to vote in the parliamentary polls.

According to him, this was beyond him, but he sympathizes with them.

He said he would be happy if the people are allowed to vote since those areas were his strong areas when he contested in 2004 and 2008.

He indicated, if they had voted, the margin of his victory would have been higher.

The EC in a statement dated 6th December 2020 announced that the SALL residents who fall within the Guan District could not vote in the parliamentary elections because the constituency that should have been created for them has not been done.

The residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe later complained that their rights were breached since they were not allowed to vote for a member of parliament.

The Supreme Court in January this year quashed an order of the Ho High which placed an injunction on the gazetting Mr John-Peter Amewu.

The court also quashed another order by the Ho High Court which placed an injunction on the Electoral Commission (EC) from presenting Mr Amewu to Parliament as MP-elect for Hohoe.

This was after the Attorney-General had filed a certiorari application.

In a unanimous decision Tuesday (January 5, 2020), a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Ho High Court had no jurisdiction to grant the two orders.

The apex court further held that the legal dispute which was then at the Ho High Court was a human rights case as a result of the decision of the EC not to allow the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) from voting in the parliamentary elections in the December 2020 elections.