A Former Deputy Attorney General, Kwesi Prempeh has described the Vice President’s request for the tenure of assembly members to be extended as “problematic”.
The Vice President said the move to extend the tenure of assembly members will prevent the vacuum that will be created due to the Supreme Court ruling which directed the Electoral Commission [EC] to call off the much publicized District Assembly elections.
[contextly_sidebar id=”4n5OsfvSPea1o8PiPtr1bZAqzG6jqvS6″]However speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Kwesi Prempeh pointed out that the Vice President’s request cannot be granted by neither the Attorney General nor the President since they are not mandated to perform such functions.
“The President or the Attorney General cannot in any way extend the tenure of assembly elections.It is not for them. If anything at all it should be for Parliament .”
He pointed out that “there seems to be a lacuna under which Parliament can extend the tenure.”
According to him, “Parliament can pass a law to force that lacuna to say that in view of this we can make provisions that where circumstances demand that the tenure of assembly members be extended, it is extended.”
State must pursue Afari Gyan
Prempeh also called on the state to pursue the Chiarman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Afari Gyan and other EC for overseeing the wastage of over 300 million cedis on botched elections.
“We live in a country where people are not held accountable for their deeds …otherwise by now all the officers of the EC should have resigned …the state should pursue them,” he said.
An aspiring Assembly man, Benjamin Eyi Mensah, represented by lawyer Alex Afenyo Markin sued the EC for denying him the opportunity to file his nomination despite meeting all conditions to contest the election because the EC closed nominations before the maturation of the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 85.
The cancellation of the elections is estimated to have cost the nation about GHC 300 million.
Giving his perspective on the issue, Prempeh said the EC Commissioner should be dismissed for treating Ghanaians with contempt.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana