[ 2014-08-31 ]

One-year after SC verdict; even lawyers are still confused - Ursula
The Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, Mrs
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful fears the lack of 'definitive
statement' by the Supreme Court (SC) in its
election petition ruling could scare aggrieved
parties from going to court in subsequent
elections.

After eight months of sitting, the court's verdict
has rather left many people, including lawyers,
confused, she admitted on Joy FM's flagship
programme, Newsfile on Saturday.

In her analysis, the New Patriotic Party MP said
the Supreme Court fell short in its declaration on
what the laws say about what “constitutes proper
election” as well as the legal framework and
legal way for future elections.

In his criticism of the SC ruling, a
constitutional lawyer, Prof. Kwasi Prempeh accused
the court of failing to give binding
recommendations for electoral reforms to the
Electoral Commission.

Delivering a paper in Accra to mark the one year
anniversary of the landmark ruling, he indicated
that the SC's recommendations “are analogous to
non-binding advice...those recommendations cannot
compel the EC to do those things that have been
recommended.”

And Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful to a large extent, shared
Prof. Prempeh's analysis that the ruling lacked
clarity and certainty regarding how elections must
be conducted and how to mount a successful
challenge in court in the event of a disputed
election.

“I agree with Professor Kwasi Prempeh's analysis
that the ruling left all in legal profession
confused,” she remarked.

“And that is the source of my fear that in 2016,
we are going to have very difficult situations
across most polling stations because the court in
effect, has told us that 'don't bother collecting
evidence on the face of the pink sheet or
whatever. Don't bother analyzing the law
vis-à-vis what actually happened on the grounds.
Just make sure that whichever ballots you want to
enter the ballot box are counted and declared,
because so long as they are we would uphold
it.”

However, Felix Kwakye-Ofosu, Deputy Communications
Minister believed, the NPP, going to court to
overturn about five million votes when “they
have not shown any evidence of fraud” was
“inherently unjust” attitude on its part. The
errors the NPP was relying on were “obvious
clerical errors,” he claimed.

In his view, the foul cry over the 2012
presidential election was meant to play Nana
Akufo-Addo as the victim and make him relevant
instead of accepting that the party's 2012
campaign was unsuccessful.

“I don't know why somebody who wants to be a
president would want the right of the citizen
curtailed just because of infractions that did not
affect the results?” he questioned.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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