General News of Friday, 12 February 2021

Source: kasapafmonline.com

I’ll fight for the people of SALL to vote at the right place – Godfred Dame

Attorney General and Minister for Justice designate, Godfred Yeboah Dame Attorney General and Minister for Justice designate, Godfred Yeboah Dame

The Attorney General and Minister for Justice designate, Godfred Yeboah Dame has promised to lead the campaign to give the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL) an opportunity to vote in the Buem constituency in the Oti region.

He says under the C.I 128 the people have to vote at Buem instead of Hohoe, insisting he will ensure that that is done.

“If by the grace of God this Honourable House approves of my nomination, I will ensure that the people of SALL vote where they are supposed to vote, i.e Buem and not Hohoe,” the nominee assured when he took his turn on Friday to be vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament.

Eligible voters within areas in the newly created district; namely Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi, were only allowed to take part in the presidential election but could not vote in the parliamentary election because a constituency had not been created for them.

This triggered an ex parte application filed by residents of the Guan District who were not given the opportunity to vote in the parliamentary elections on December 7, 2020.

The Ho High Court presided over by Justice George Boadi on December 23, 2020, granted an injunction after SALL residents argued that their inability to vote in the just-ended parliamentary election amounted to a breach of their rights.

But the State through a Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame, filed a motion at the Supreme Court to fight the injunction placed on Amewu by the Ho High Court.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision quashed the orders made by the Ho High Court placing an interim injunction on the gazetting and swearing-in of Member of Parliament for the Hohoe constituency, John Peter Amewu.

The Attorney-General nominee is being accused of supporting the disenfranchisement of the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL).

But answering questions posed by the Bodi MP, Samson Ahi on the matter during his vetting on Friday, the nominee said it will be unfair for anybody to allude that he led the efforts to disenfranchise the people.

“If anything at all it’s the opposite…I ensured the preservation of the rights to vote there for the people of Hohoe.”