Thursday, August 27, 2015

Ghana: Court places injunction on District Assembly elections

The district level elections scheduled to come off next Tuesday have suffered another setback.
A Kumasi High Court has granted what it calls, limited injunction following an application by a disqualified aspirant.

The elections in Dichemso will not come off, at least for seven days whilst the court looks into the matter.

Kwabena Senkyire who is seeking re-election as an assembly member for the Dichemso electoral area in the Ashanti Region was disqualified following a petition claiming that he is affiliated to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The aspirant said he was cheated because no one called him to hear his side of the story; all he got was a disqualification letter.

Counsel for the plaintiff, Adom Appiah, described the suit as a breach of the rules of natural justice and is happy that the court has heard their plea.

Kwabena Senkyire is not the only one who has problems with the EC.
Dominic Nsiah Asare, is also threatening to go to court.

He argues that the overwhelming evidence presented by the NPP’s Vice Presidential Candidate in the 2016 election, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is a clear indication that the voters' register is bloated and cannot be used for the District level elections.

In a response to this, Principal Public Relations Officer for the Commission, Sylvia Annor said the EC is working on the claims made by the NPP.

It is for this reason that it asked all political parties to present their concerns about the register by September 22, 2015 in order for an appropriate solution to be found to the issues raised, she added.
She, however, says the EC will abide by the Kumasi High Court’s ruling.

The Supreme Court had earlier directed the EC to postpone the local level elections originally scheduled for March 2015, after it was dragged to court by Benjamin Ayi Mensah.
The aspiring assemblyman said he was denied the opportunity to file his nomination despite meeting all conditions stipulated by the EC.

Source: www.myjoyonline.com

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