Sammy Gyamfi slams Chief Justice Torkornoo over EC injunction brouhaha

The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo after the Supreme Court failed to give his party and four others a date for a hearing on an injunction they filed.

The NDC and four other political parties filed an injunction to stop the limited voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) but a date could not be reportedly set for the hearing of the injunction with the excuse that Chief Justice Torkornoo had travelled.

Reacting to this, the NDC National Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, said that in no serious country would this happen, 3news.com reports.

He accused the chief justice of changing the rules of the court to allow her to be the only person who sets dates for injunctions.

“The Chief Justice must be called out… It is totally reprehensible for us to have a situation in this country where you file an injunction application in the Supreme Court and you are told that because the Chief Justice has travelled, you cannot be given a date for a hearing.

“The Chief Justice has now made new rules that she alone can now give dates for the hearing of injunction applications. In what civilised country can this happen?” the communication officer is quoted to have said on The Keypoints on TV3/3FM on Saturday, September 9, 2023.

Background:

Five opposition political parties jointly filed an injunction to halt the ongoing limited voters' registration exercise.

The five political parties that have come together to file this injunction are the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Progressive People's Party (PPP), Convention People's Party (CPP), People's National Convention (PNC), and the All People’s Congress (APC).

They describe the exercise by the electoral commission as an unlawful and unreasonable decision to restrict centres for the upcoming Limited Voter Registration exercise to their District Offices.

According to them, the EC’s decision to restrict the centres of voter registration to their district offices has the potential to deprive many eligible voters of their right to be registered as voters and to vote in public elections.

In the writ by the parties, they stated “a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of articles 45(a) and 42 the constitution, the decision of the 2nd Defendant to undertake the 2023 limited/continues voter registration at the District offices of the 2nd Defendant instead of undertaking same on the basis of electoral areas will result in voter suppression particularly in rural constituencies of the country, and is thus unconstitutional as it violates the rights of the first-time voters to register and vote,” part of the writ stated.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana announced that it would commence a registration exercise for eligible Ghanaians who turned 18 years old after the 2020 registration exercise and other eligible voters who could not register on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, who made this disclosure at a press briefing in Accra, dubbed, ‘Let the Citizen Know’, on August 17, 2023, indicated that the registration exercise would end on Monday, October 2, 2023.

She added that the exercise would be held at all the 268 district offices of the EC across the country.

“The voter’s registration exercise will afford Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 years, since the last registration of 2020 and others who are more than 18 years, but for various reasons couldn’t register during the 2020 registration exercise.

“The EC will embark on voter registration in all 268 district offices of the commission. The exercise will be held from September 12 to October 2,” she said.

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