8 challenge creation of new district electoral area

March 18, 2011 (Page 35)
Eight individuals in two separate suits are challenging the creation and specification of a new district electoral area by the Ministry of Local Government which was gazetted in November 2010.
In the first suit, Mr Charles Mate Kole and Nene Azago Kwesitsu I have sued the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Attorney-General on the grounds that the Local Government (Creation of New District Electoral Areas and Designation of Units) Instrument, 2010 (L.I. 1983) sought to alter boundaries between the Greater Accra and the Eastern regions.
In the second suit, Stephen Nti Bortey Okane and five others have dragged the EC and the Attorney-General to court over the creation of four additional electoral areas in the Ledzokuku District, in contravention of L.I 1983.
In the suit initiated by Mr Kole and Nene Kwesitsu, the two are contending that the Osukute, Bungalow, Akutua, Zongo New Town, Amedeka, Natiriku and Salon electoral areas (previously part of the Lower Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region as per the specification made by C.I. 46 of 2004) are now part of the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region.
They are, accordingly, praying the court to declare that that action was in excess of powers conferred on the Minister of Local Government by sections 3 and 4 of the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462).
In a writ filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by their lawyer, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, the plaintiffs are praying the Supreme Court to declare that upon a true and proper interpretation of articles 241 (2) and Article 5 of the Constitution, Parliament acted in excess of its powers by approving, adopting and enacting L. I. 1983.
They are also praying the highest court of the land to declare as null and void and of no legal effect L.I. 1983 which eventually altered the boundaries between the Greater Accra and the Eastern regions, as well as declare as null and void and of no legal effect the second column of L.I. 1983 which relates to the specification of the Osukute, Bungalow, Akutua, Zongo New Town, Amedeka, Natriku and Salon Electoral areas as part of the Dangme West District.
The plaintiffs are asking for an order restraining the EC from conducting elections or unit committee elections or exercising its powers to conduct elections in the affected towns pending the hearing and final determination of the merits of the instant action, as well as any further costs the court may deem fit.
The Attorney-General has, however, denied the Minister of Local Government embarked on an exercise to alter boundaries between the Eastern and the Greater Accra regions.
The defendant is also praying the court to take into consideration the statute and social needs of the community, economic exigencies of time and other factors, adding that “the Osudoku people need to keep their cultural identity as one people and the law must be used in the sense to further the cause of this unity and not to disintegrate them”.
In relation to this suit, the Chief of Akuse, Nene Teye Titriku, the Akuse and Amedeka Residents Association and six former assembly members applied to be joined to the suit but the court struck out the names of the six assembly members and, accordingly, joined the names of the two others to the suit filed by Mr Kole and Nene Kwesitsu.
The parties were, accordingly, directed to file the issues to be heard. The case was adjourned sine die.
Hearing the suit filed by Mr Bortey against the EC and the Attorney-General, the court struck out the name of a former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, who was originally attached to the suit, with the reason that he was not the proper person to have been sued.
The contention of the plaintiffs, who were represented by Mr Ayikoi Otoo, is that the L.I. 1983 is in contravention of Article 11 (7) of the 1992 Constitution and for that reason the court should restrain the EC from holding district and unit level elections in the four disputed areas.
The disputed areas, according to the plaintiffs, in the Ledzokuku District are the Okoigonno Industrial Area, Tabibiano, Ashietey Akombra North and Martey Tsuru Electoral areas because, according to them, Ledzokuku should have had 12 and not 16 electoral areas as per the gazette publishing the new electoral areas.
The court, accordingly, directed the parties to file a memorandum of issues to be discussed on or before April 5, 2011.
Hearing continues on April 5, 2011.