ROPAA
An Accra High Court (Human Rights Division) has set March 21, 2019 to hear an application by the Electoral Commission (EC) to extend the time to implement the Representation of People’s Amendment Act (ROPAA).
Appearing before the court yesterday, Justin Amevor, counsel for EC, attempted to move the application but the judge, Justice Abodakpi, asked Sampson Ayenini, counsel for the applicants, if they had been served with the application.
Mr. Ayenini confirmed to the court that he had been served and that he filed an affidavit in opposition on February 11, 2019, which had been served on the EC and Attorney General.
The court, therefore, adjourned the matter to March 21, 2019 to hear the application for extension of time.
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EC Application
In an application filed by the EC to ask for time to implement Act 699, the Chairperson of EC, Jean Mensa, said the Commission has been bedeviled by some challenges which affected its ability to implement the Act.
An Accra High Court (Human Rights Division) on December 17, 2017 ordered the EC to activate the process that would enable Ghanaians living abroad to vote in the country’s elections.
The court said within 12 calendar months – beginning from January 1, 2018 – the EC should lay before parliament the modalities for the implementation of the ROPAA Act so that Ghanaian citizens living abroad can take part in election 2020.
The court, presided over by Justice Anthony K. Yeboah, also ordered the EC to explain why it failed to implement the Act within one month after the expiration of the 12-month period.
It also ordered the Commission to publish the reasons in the media.
In a motion filed at an Accra High Court, the EC said the Act has not been implemented principally because of three main challenges which the EC faced shortly after the order.
The challenges, the EC Chairperson said, include the removal of Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku-Amankwa, who were found guilty of six allegations leveled against them by some petitioners.
The EC said it failed to implement the order of the Court thereafter because of its work relating to the referenda to create six new regions in the country.
Mrs. Mensa indicated in the affidavit of support that the EC had inaugurated a committee, chaired by the Deputy Chairperson, Dr. Bossman Asare Eric.
She said the committee was working with the general public, stakeholders and other countries that are practising External Voting to take the appropriate steps for its implementation in Ghana.
She, therefore, prayed the court to give EC more time to operationalize Act 699 for 12 calendar months ending January 2020.
By Gibril Abdul Razak