[ad_1]
The claim of contempt concerned the implementation of the Law on the Amendment of the Law on the Representation of the People (ROPAA), 2006 (Law 699), which grants Ghanaians in the diaspora the right to vote in elections. 39; abroad.
Five Ghanaians in the diaspora have filed a contempt motion.
The five – Dr. Kofi Boateng, Agenenim Boateng, Nellie Kemevor, Obed Danquah and Christian Sillim – wanted the High Court in Accra to condemn the EC and its commissioners for contempt of court for failing to implement a court order. High Court authorizing the implementation of the ROPAA law in the next 12 months. .
Rejected application
However, the court presided over by Judge Ellen Amoah denied the claim on Thursday, July 11, 2019.
The decision was not read in court, but the court ordered the parties to go to court. The court also refused to grant the costs requested by EC lawyer Justin Amenuvor. Lawyer Samson Lardi Ayenini represented the appellants.
Claim of contempt
In their claim for contempt filed on their behalf by their lawyer, the five Ghanaians claimed that the EC had "failed, refused or neglected to respect and abide by" the specific orders of the court. That, they argued, was despite many letters they had written to remind the EC of the imminent delay.
"The first defendant (the EC) and its commissioners have with impunity pursued their contemptuous acts of not complying with the aforementioned judgment and the specific orders addressed to them personally, although the time allowed to comply with them has elapsed They said.
According to the five applicants, the only way to ensure that the EC complies with the court orders was that Ms. Mensa and the other Commissioners be "jailed for contempt".
"I am not guilty of contempt"
Ms Mensa, however, refuted the allegations of the five applicants that she and the EC acted in a disdainful manner.
In her affidavit of opposition, she baderted that she was not the EC president at the time the court issued the order in December 2017 and that since her appointment she took steps to implement the court orders.
"Having been seized of court orders after my appointment in July 2018 and ensuring that measures are taken to comply with court orders, I, through my lawyers, requested an extension of delay in which the implementation of the law. 699 would take place.
"I deny that, in the exercise of my official duties as President of the Ghana Electoral Commission, I acted deliberately to discredit or disregard the administration of justice, "she said.
Context
The five Ghanaians sued the Electoral Management Body on the grounds that he had "fallen asleep" and had refused to implement Law 699, 11 years after its adoption.
The "willful refusal" or inaction of the EC to implement the act, they argued, robbed them of the opportunity to vote in three general elections (2008, 2012 and 2016) and Other public elections.
They also claimed that it was discriminatory for the EC to continue to register a category of Ghanaian citizens studying abroad or working in Ghana's missions / embbadies abroad to vote in the elections. 39, public elections and referendums without including them.
On 18 December 2017, the High Court, presided over by Judge Anthony Yeboah, pronounced in favor of the five Ghanaians. The court ordered the EC to make the ROPAA operational by tabling in Parliament a constitutional instrument (IC) defining the modalities for implementing the law.
If the EC had a legitimate reason and was "unable to comply with the order", the court ordered them to publish the justifiable cause (s) 30 days before the deadline and to also appear before the court. court reasons).
The court found that the EC was deliberately dragging its feet and made the decision not to implement Bill 699 any time soon. The court further concluded that the EC had motivated the delay, which it described as "serious, unreasonable and unjustifiable".
[ad_2]
Source link
