Former Attorney General under the Kufuor administration has admitted the NPP perpetuated an illegality when it upped the number of constituencies at the time to 230. He said pointedly that the NPP did not follow provisions stipulated in Article 47 for the creation of constituencies. The legal luminary said nobody questioned the action then. “It was not questioned, nobody questioned it. The creation was done somewhere in January – 10 clear months to elections. Once issues are raised then the Supreme Court can look into it”. He said.
Ayikoi Otoo Friday filed a fresh suit against the Electoral Commission after he withdrew an earlier contempt suit. His withdrawal followed EC’s withdrawal of the Constitutional Instrument (C.I. 73) from parliament only to lay a new one.
Discussing his reasons for persisting in his suit against the EC on pm:EXPRESS on MULTITV, he was candid enough to state clearly that as Attorney General, he could not have brought the issue up then but any other Ghanaian could have raised it. Mr. Ayikoi was emphatic that whenever something was wrong, it did not matter what time it comes up – once it does come up, it is okay. Mr. Ayikoi argues that the President knows that once he authorizes creation of districts as mandated by the constitution, the EC would follow through with constituencies. Mr Ayikoi Otoo reiterated that, based on this that, “ … the government would create districts in areas considered its world bank”.
His comments raises questions of whether the NPP while in government supported the creation of new constituencies in areas considered its world bank in a process of gerrymandering to favor the government during elections. 30 new constituencies were created between 2004 and 2008 to bring the total to 230 constituencies. At the time, although there were pockets of opposition resistance, the NPP went ahead to create these new constituencies.
When pushed by host Stephen Anti to say why he did not take a legal action against the EC at the time, he was emphatic that he couldn’t have. He rejected suggestions that he was being political about his intentions to sue the EC and insisted he is pursuing this, purely to the interest of majority of Ghanaians.
The suit filed at the Supreme Court, seeks several reliefs including compelling the Electoral Commission to publish the formula it is using to create the constituencies. He posited that he is pursuing this agenda now because the rule of law must always reign supreme.