[ 2012-07-10 ]

Akuse BVR on course amidst heavy security
News available to Adom News indicates that in
spite of the court injunction placed on the
biometric registration at Akuse, the Eastern
regional office of the Electoral Commission has
proceeded on the exercise.

Some youth of Akuse who tried resisting the
exercise were allegedly driven off by police
officers amidst firing of warning shots.

An Accra Fast Track High Court on Monday placed an
injunction on the biometric voters’ registration
in Akuse town upon a writ filed by the Chief of
Akuse Nene Kuleape Tetriku.

The Akuse Chief argues that, Akuse is yet to be
appropriately placed under any region.

The Electoral Commission (EC) in April suspended
biometric Voters’ registration for the people of
Akuse due to boundary dispute between two
traditional areas over the town but later, the EC
set 10th July, 2012 as date for the registration.

When contacted, the District Police Commander for
Akuse, DSP Douglas Kumah stated that, he was busy
at the moment and was not in the position to
speak.

He could therefore not confirm or deny the alleged
indiscriminate firing of warning shots in the
Akuse town.

In another development, Adom News has learnt that
the Akuse Chief is filing a case of contempt
through his lawyer Captain Nkrabeah Effah Darteh
(retired), against EC.

Akuse Chief had filed a writ at an Accra Fast
Track High Court seeking an interpretation of PNDC
law 26 as amended by PNDC Law 28 upon the recent
Supreme Court ruling on Akuse.

He argued, the recent Supreme Court ruling never
placed Akuse under Lower Manya Krobo in the
Eastern region as being claimed by the people of
Krobo area.

Akuse had been at the centre of a dispute between
the Dangme West District, now the Shai Osudoku
District, in the Greater Accra Region and the
Lower Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region
following the decision of the Parliamentary
Committee on Subsidiary Legislation to place the
Akuse Electoral Area under the Dangme West
District in the Greater Accra Region, a move which
infuriated the authorities and residents of the
Manya Krobo Traditional Area.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court declared as
null and void the decision of the Parliamentary
Select Committee on Subsidiary Legislation to
place the Akuse Electoral Area under the Dangme
West District in the Greater Accra Region.

It said Parliament was procedurally wrong in
enacting the LI because the action contravened
Article 11 (7) of the 1992 Constitution and
subsequently declared the original version of the
LI which placed Akuse under the Eastern Region as
valid.

However the Supreme Court, presided over by
Justice William Atuguba, in a unanimous decision,
declined to rule on a dispute raging between two
chiefs connected to the boundary dispute.

According to the court, it only had the power to
deal with the constitutional aspect of the suit
and emphasised that it was the Regional House of
Chiefs which had the mandate to determine
chieftaincy matters.

Based on this ruling, Chief of Akuse Nene Kuleape
Tetriku directed his Counsel Capt. Nkrabeah Effah
Darteh (retired) to file a writ at a High Court to
seek an interpretation to PNDC law 26 as amended
by PNDC Law 28 since, he believed that, it was
this Law that placed Akuse under Shai Osudoku
traditional area in the Greater Accra region.

Source - Adomonline.com

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