Lead petitioner for the removal of the Chair of the Electoral Commission and her deputies, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has accused the Commission of giving premium to the directions of the President and his appointees rather than what the Constitution mandates the office.
In a statement signed by lawyers for the petitioners released Thursday, May 16, 2024, the group says it is shocking to note that the Commission in their recent altercations with IMANI-Africa is denying culpability for the disenfranchisement of the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL) traditional areas in the 2020 parliamentary polls.
According to the petitioners, the EC’s refusal to accept blame for the crime it committed in 2020 is something that needs a serious look considering its ramifications on the democratic trajectory of the state.
It said the Commission’s response to IMANI-Africa with respect to the direct role it played in denying the people of SALL their constitutional right they must be called to respond to.
“We note that the Commission has presented a set of facts that are not only legally incomprehensible but also manifests a worrying lack of appreciation of the independent mandate and functional integrity that the Constitution sought to bestow on the Commission.
“This was particularly evident in brazen admission that the Electoral Commission considers itself amenable to the direction and control of the President and his appointees rather than to the Constitution,” a statement by the petitioners indicated in some parts.
Chronicling the events that occurred from the laying of the Instrument in Parliament to the creation of the new regions and the SALL brouhaha, the Barker-Vormawor-led petitioners concluded that “it is without doubt that the Electoral Commission breached the 1992 Constitution, which enjoined it from depriving anyone of their right to vote and in that regard acted in a way that amounted effectively to a suspension, overthrow or abrogation of a crucial part of the Constitution with regard to the eligible voters in SALL.”
“We are convinced that the actions of the Electoral Commission were either intentional or negligent and thus criminal; or that they were a demonstration of ineptitude, both of which are disqualifying.
“Despite the calculated efforts that have stifled our attempts to call the Electoral
Commission and its principal officers to book. We continue to hold hope that the
individuals who were the controlling minds in procuring this grave injustice to our
constitutional democracy will one day be called to answer for their crimes against the Republic,” the statement concluded.
Find the full statement here for the events that led to the disenfranchisement as contained in their statement.
SALL’s disenfranchisement: Blame Parliament not us – EC tells Franklin Cudjoe
