Abodakpi to be removed from Parliament?

.... Supreme Court to hear case
Accra, July 16, GNA - The Supreme Court will on July 23 commence hearing a case in which a legal practitioner, Mr. Kwasi Danso-Acheampong is seeking the removal of Daniel Abodakpi, Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, from the House.

The Court earlier fixed Wednesday for the hearing but when the case was called, the Attorney-General's office had not filed its submissions. Initially the A-G's office was not a party to the case but the court requested that it should be included in the matter. Mr Joe Ghartey, the Attorney General, who led the team of attorneys, told the court that he had not been able to file his submissions.

He, however, promised to file them by Thursday, July 17. The court therefore granted the AG leave to file his submissions to enable Abodakpi and Mr Danso Acheampong to respond. This, however, should be done by July 22, the court said. Mr Danso-Acheampong contends that Mr Abodakpi mandatorily vacated his seat as MP for Keta Constituency on February 5, last year when he was convicted by the Fast Track High court to a 10-year jail term for causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretences. President John Agyekum Kufuor granted Mr Abodakpi amnesty by forging him the rest of his sentence.

He was therefore seeking the Supreme Court's interpretation of section 10 of the Representation of the People Law 1992, Law 284, to have Mr Abodakpi removed from Parliament on the charges of defrauding by false pretences, which had been confirmed by the Court of Appeal. He is also seeking the interpretation of Article 97 of the Constitution on the legibility of an MP and the Article 94, which spells out that convicts cannot be in Parliament. Mr Tony Lithur represented Abodakpi.

The court of Appeal in a 2-1 decision upheld the judgment of the Fast Track High Court, which convicted Abodakpi to a 10-year jail term. He has served notice that he will appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.