Franklin Cudjoe, President of IMANI Africa, has launched a scathing critique of the Supreme Court’s handling of issues of disenfranchisement.
His comments followed the Court’s ruling on Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin’s application to overturn a previous decision that blocked his declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant.
In an interview with Selorm Adonoo on Channel One TV’s “The Big Issue,” Cudjoe questioned the Supreme Court’s rationale for swiftly addressing this matter after directing the related SALL case to the High Court, labelling it “judicial terrorism.”
Cudjoe accused the Supreme Court of bias in its approach to disenfranchisement, particularly regarding the rejection of the SALL case, which affected voters in the 2020 elections.
Due to the creation of the Oti Region from the Volta Region under CI 112, these areas remained unrepresented in the 8th Parliament, leaving approximately 17,000 voters from the Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi areas disenfranchised in the 2020 Hohoe Constituency parliamentary elections.
He further criticized Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo Markin for what he described as a flawed process.
“The people of SALL were discarded, disappointed and abused for 4 good years right from the Supreme Court. These guys threw us out and said go away. We were given a raw deal by the Electoral Commission, a stinking letter written at the dawn of elections.
“By that fiat, we were disenfranchised. This Supreme Court was not in a hurry to ensure the flagrant abuse of the Constitution [were handled]. I’m not surprised that they are conjoined in actions and in thoughts that they could have the nerve to say that some people were being disenfranchised.
“Afenyo Markin is my friend, but I told him you guys didn’t serve us well. You hurriedly go and procure a very cheap process, I call it cheap because it was given for cheap. When we were struggling, stranded, and subdued, we were discarded by the EC, the government and the Supreme Court, they just discarded us like flies.
“When I heard those words I said is this a gangster system? What kind of system is this? I call it judicial terrorism, aided by legal plunder. I asked myself what is going on here? I sat to listen to this crazy stuff. When you do that then the other matters come into focus and people say you are biased. Some of the things Thaddeus Sory, [counsel for the Speaker] said were just bare-faced common sense.”
On October 30, the Supreme Court of Ghana dismissed an application by the Speaker of Parliament, who sought to reverse a previous ruling that blocked his declaration of four parliamentary seats as vacant.
Speaker Bagbin’s application aimed to nullify the Supreme Court’s decision that temporarily halted his ruling on the four seats.
The Speaker also sought to set aside a writ filed by Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, which had requested judicial intervention to prevent the Speaker from issuing further declarations on the disputed seats.
Before making its decision, the Court addressed an objection raised by Thaddeus Sory, counsel for the Speaker, concerning Justice Ernest Gaewu’s impartiality due to his past affiliation with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as a parliamentary candidate.
However, the Supreme Court dismissed this concern. This ruling follows an earlier instruction for Parliament to let four MPs resume duties pending resolution, overriding the Speaker’s October 17 declaration.
This development carries significant weight as both sides in Parliament claim majority status.
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