EC Sacks Lawyer in Peter Amewu’s disputed 2020 victory

The Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, has made a significant change in its legal representation in the ongoing election petition case against John Peter Amewu’s 2020 victory in the Hohoe constituency at a Ho, High Court.

The case, initiated by Prof. Margaret Kweku and four others, challenges the declaration of Amewu as the winner, citing the disenfranchisement of approximately 17,000 voters from the Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Likpe (SALL) traditional areas.

The EC, has replaced its previous lawyer, Sekyi-Boampong, with Justin Amenuvor. This change comes as the case approaches crucial dates, with trial sessions scheduled for June 11, 20, and 21, 2024, and a case management conference held on June 3, 2024.

Prof. Kweku’s witness statement, filed on May 30, 2024, argues that the EC’s actions violated the Public Elections Regulations (C.I. 95) and the 1992 Constitution. She asserts that the EC’s decision to prevent SALL voters from participating in the parliamentary election while allowing them to vote in the presidential election, was unconstitutional.

This decision allegedly impacted the election outcome, as Amewu won with 26,952 votes against Kweku’s 21,821.

The respondents, including the EC and Amewu, claim that C.I. 95 was amended by C.I. 128, a point contested by the petitioners. They argue that any alteration to constituency boundaries under C.I. 128 was unconstitutional, as it did not comply with the required intervals and conditions set out in the Constitution.

The witness statement also highlights the EC’s failure to follow constitutional provisions and the Local Governance Act, leading to the disenfranchisement of SALL voters. The petitioners seek to annul Amewu’s election and demand a new parliamentary election that includes all registered voters in the Hohoe constituency.

As of the close of business on Friday, 31st May 2024, the deadline given by the court, no witness statement has been filed by the EC nor by Mr Amewu, currently the Railway Development Minister in the Akufo-Addo government.

In her witness statement, Prof. Kweku ,states that the Hohoe constituency was specified by the EC in the Public Elections Regulations Constitutional Instrument Number 95 of 2016 (C.I 95) as one of the 275 constituencies established by the EC for the conduct of public elections in Ghana.

The C.I. 95 was never validly revoked, revised, repealed or otherwise amended and should have been used for the Parliamentary elections that were held on 7th December 2020 to allow every registered voter in the constituency to exercise the right to vote as provided for in Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution.

However, the 17, 000 registered voters in the SALL Traditional Areas, were denied a vote by a press statement that the EC sprang on the public on the evening of December 6, 2020, just a few hours to the 2020 general election, in which it stated that voters in the SALL area could vote only in the Presidential election but not in the Parliamentary elections.

That decision, which violated the constitutional responsibilities of the EC, clearly affected the outcome of the election since Mr Amewu was claimed to have received 26,952 votes as against 21,821 for Prof. Kweku.

The witness statement goes on to indicate that in the answers filed by the Respondents to the Petition, while admitting C.I. 95 as having established the Hohoe constituency as one of 275 constituencies in 2016, they, however, claimed that C.I. 95 had been amended by C.I. 128. However, the purported amendment of C.I. 95 by C.I. 128 was a violation of article 47(5) of the 1992 which provides that:

“The Electoral Commission shall review the division of Ghana into constituencies at intervals of not less than seven years, or within twelve months after the publication of the enumeration figures after the holding of a census of the population of Ghana, whichever is earlier, and may, as a result alter the constituencies.”

At the time of the purported enactment of C.I. 128, seven years had not elapsed since the establishment of the Hohoe Constituency in C.I. 95, nor had there been “twelve months after the publication of the enumeration figures after the holding of a census of the population of Ghana” to trigger a review by the Electoral Commission of the Hohoe Constituency. The purported alteration by the Commission of the boundaries of the existing Hohoe constituency as established in C.I. 95 was, thus, unconstitutional and invalid.

Furthermore, since the EC has no power to change regional boundaries and its power to change constituency boundaries is limited by the Constitution, its C.I. 128 could not lawfully place “the four communities namely Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe under the Buem Constituency in the Jasikan District of the Oti Region” for the 7th December 2020 elections, as had been claimed in the Answers to the Election Petition filed by the Electoral Commission and Mr Amewu.

No Guan District had been created at the time of the 7th December 2020 elections and the EC had no lawful basis to prevent voters in the SALL Traditional Areas from voting in their existing constituency.

The fact that Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe were part of Hohoe Municipality under the Local Government (Hohoe Municipal Assembly) (Establishment) Instrument 2012, L.I. 2151 was admitted by the E Cin its response to a Request to Admit Facts filed by Counsel for the Petitioners, according to the witness statement. Even if C.I. 128 had been validly enacted, Article 47(6) of the 1992 Constitution makes it clear that “Where the boundaries of a constituency established under this article are altered as a result of a review, the alteration shall come into effect upon the next dissolution of Parliament.” The next dissolution of Parliament, by virtue of article 113(1) of the 1992 Constitution, would not come into effect until 6th January 2021.

The witness statement also highlights violations by the Electoral Commission of constitutional provisions as well as the Local Governance Act, 2016, Act 936.

The conduct of the Commission, according to the witness statement, has denied registered voters in the SALL traditional areas democratic participation in the nation and their right to equality before the law under Article 17 of the Constitution. Such discrimination on account of place of origin is not allowed under the Constitution, according to the witness statement.

The Commission knew or ought to have known that it had not validly created a new constituency in which the registered voters in the SALL area could vote for a Member of Parliament, and, therefore, that not allowing them to vote in the Hohoe constituency, meant they would have no representation in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic whose term began from January 7th 2021.

The election of Mr Amewu as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hohoe Constituency in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic, cannot stand when some voters in the Constituency were excluded from voting on December 7, 2020, and denied their constitutional and fundamental human right to vote.

The Petitioners are, therefore, seeking to have the court set aside the purported election of Mr Amewu and order the Electoral Commission to conduct a Parliamentary election for the Hohoe constituency in which all duly registered voters in the said constituency as established by C.I. 95 can vote for the Parliamentary candidate of their choice.

The EC, on  May 30, 2024, complied with an order of the court to file authentic copies of the Constitutional Instrument 119 of 2019 (the District Electoral Areas and Designation of Units Regulations) and Constitutional Instrument 128 of 2020 (the Representation of People (Parliamentary Constituencies) Instrument), as well as the list of registered voters in the SALL Traditional Areas.