30.7 C
Ghana
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Supreme court did not fail to prescribe electoral reforms, says Agyeman Budu

Must read

Gh Extractives
Gh Extractiveshttps://ghextractives.com
Ghextractives.com is an independent multimedia portal that seeks to provide credible information and news content to readers especially players in the extractive sector in Ghana, Africa and beyond. It also provides a unique platform for players in the energy sector to market their products and reach a wider audience

Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Budu head of Law Centres, at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Kwaku Agyeman-Budu has refuted claims suggesting the apex court failed to proffer electoral reforms in the 2020 election petition judgment.

Speaking in an interview with Kojo Mensah on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday, Kwaku Agyeman Budu believes the substance of the case did not warrant for such recommendations from the apex court.

Agyeman- Budu “The Electoral Commission is an Independent body and is entitled to engage in any reform that they themselves believe that may be necessary and obviously this petition in 2013 actually helped the landscape in terms of our electoral reforms and our democracy generally even though the pink sheet still is somewhat complicated it is less complicated than it was in 2012/2013, ”

“So, it is a good thing that reforms may be suggested for the electoral commission but the fact that the judgement in this particular case the justices did not necessarily prescribed or suggest any reforms does not meant that the election was without problems, the issues before the court was that the petition was alleging specific things including vote padding which the court acknowledged.” She added.

Disingenuous Assertion

Dr Agyeman-Budu further described the perception that the court aided the EC chairperson to evade being cross examined as disingenuous.

He “But the critical thing was that the petitioner was not able to establish that there was vote padding, and once again it goes back to the point that there are forums where you seek specific redress.”

“When you got to a court of law you are seeking specific reliefs in relation with specific problems that you have with somebody, it is not necessarily the forum where you are going to hold someone accountable and I think that is the misconception that has been out there that the EC was not held to account in the sense t that Jean Mensah was held to account or was aided to evade public scrutiny. Which I think is a bit disingenuous,” the constitutional lawyer added.

However, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Ghana Professor Ransford Gyampo believes the apex court should have still prescribed some reforms to help shape the electoral process.

“I believe that regardless of whatever is  brought before you , there are other ancillary issues that disturbs our democracy and electoral process and you are able to make pronouncement on it , why not . you should seize the opportunity. …So my point was why wont be a  certain pronouncement on some of these things.”

Fred Dzakpata

- Advertisement -spot_img

More articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

- Advertisement -

spot_img

Latest article