Hohoe MP John Peter Amewu has been given 14 days from December 21, 2023, to file his answer to an Election Petition involving the disenfranchisement of the residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lipke and Lolobi (SALL) in the 2020 polls.
In the case brought against the Electoral Commission (EC) and Mr Amewu by Professor Margaret Kwaku and other petitioners, the presiding judge at the Ho High Court, Justice Owoahene Acheampong on December 21, 2023, was to have delivered a ruling on a motion for judgment based on admissions made by the Commission.
However, he said just as he was finalising his ruling for delivery that day, certain papers had been filed in the Court by a lawyer on behalf of the second respondent to the Petition, Peter Amewu.
Justice Owoahene Acheampong said Mr Amewu was asking for time to file his answer to the petition and was also asking for the arrest of the ruling scheduled for that day.
These applications on behalf of the second Respondent had been set for hearing on January 22, 2024.
Benedict Kofitse, the lawyer who filed the papers on behalf of Mr Amewu, was in court.
Counsel for the petitioners, Tsatsu Tsikata, said he had not been served with any of the papers.
He would, however, not be opposed in principle to Peter Amewu being given the chance to file his answer to the Petition even though this was belated.
Mr Tsikata stated that it was not necessary to wait until January 22, 2024, for this to happen, since there was no opposition to the application and the court could bring forward the hearing of that application and make the order for the belated filing of the answer.
He emphasised that there was an urgency about the situation of the SALL Traditional Areas not having representation in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic even as the final year of that Parliament was approaching.
As regards the application to arrest the ruling on the application for judgment based on admissions made by the Electoral Commission also, Mr Tsikata suggested that an earlier date than January 22, 2024, should be fixed.
Counsel for the first respondent, the EC, Sakyi Boapong, told the court that he had been served with the papers filed on behalf of Peter Amewu.
He stated that he would need time to file a response to the application for the arrest of the ruling that was to have been delivered that day, but which could not be delivered given the application.
After Justice Owoahene Acheampong had heard from all three lawyers, he brought forward the hearing of the application for late filing by the second respondent of the answer to the petition to that day and gave Peter Amewu 14 days from December 21, 2023, to file his answer.
The court accepted the entry of appearance filed on behalf of Mr Amewu though filed late.
The motion for the ruling of the court on the motion for judgment on admissions to be arrested was also fixed for January 9, 2024.
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