A private legal practitioner Egbert Faibille has said the Supreme Court did not do the people of Ghana any good for recommending for electoral reforms instead of ordering for it after the election petition.<\/p>\n
According to him, the supreme court has not been forthright in its rulings when it comes to issues concerning the electoral commission (EC).<\/p>\n
Ghana recorded a landmark case brought before the Supreme Court by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over widespread irregularities which took place in some polling centers during the 2012 Presidential elections.<\/p>\n
Although the final verdict by the court went in favour of President Mahama, the Supreme Court made some recommendations to help improve the electoral system in the country.<\/p>\n
A year down the lane, the recommendations are yet to be implementd by the Electoral Commission.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a forum organized by policy Think Tank, Imani Ghana on Friday\u00a0 to mark the first anniversary of the election petition verdict, \u00a0Egbert Faibille expressed dissatisfaction of the Supreme Court\u2019s rulings on cases brought before it against the EC.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at article 46 of the 1992 constitution, it provides clearly that the EC shall not be subject to the direction or any control or authority. That being the case, ask yourself that how come the Supreme Court recently injuncted the EC from using the National ID card to register and then when it came to making orders to EC with respect to the petition, it said we recommend,\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n
He explained that a recommendation can either be taken or not hence the Supreme Court should have ordered the EC to implement the recommendations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo how can the Supreme Court from whom we all go to for justice with respect with constitutional matters\u00a0 in one breath shy away from ordering the EC to undertake electoral reforms and then in another breath actually injunct the EC from using a particular ID card to register people,\u201d he insinuated.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Abraham Amaliba who also made a remark at the programme, disagreed with Egbert Faibille.<\/p>\n
For him the real problem is the mistrust Ghanaians have for public institutions like the electoral commission and the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe courts are there to settle disputes. If the court settles the disputes and you are dissatisfied, the appeal process is there. If we get to the point where we begin to loose confidence in the judicial process, we will get to a point where we shall now resort to cutlasses and guns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that it is better to have confidence in\u00a0 the \u00a0judicial process no matter how negative or ineffective it is but put pressure on them to perfect their acts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A private legal practitioner Egbert Faibille has said the Supreme Court did not do the people of Ghana any good for recommending for electoral reforms instead of ordering for it after the election petition. According to him, the supreme court has not been forthright in its rulings when it comes to issues concerning the electoral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":12235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n