SRC COURT VERDICT DECLARATION;FINAL JUDGEMENT OF THE JUSTICES OF THE SRC COURT
After the court hearing on Monday 9 August at the Ho campus, chair of the six member panel presided by His Lordship Yeboah Osei Kwame Isaac,the federal SRC Chief Justice, continued its injunction on the declaration of the result of the Federal SRC presidential election that took place on the 6th of August 2021
On the election petition and all other cases it had last Monday, one of the cases was challenging the credibility of the voting software used for the election.Another case was to nullify the result of the just-ended election among others.
Before the final hearing of the verdict, Justice Lawrence Denueme gave a brief education on the constitution of the SRC and how it works.According to Justice Lawrence, the Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction in all matters relating to the enforcement or interpretation of the constitution without prejudice to any provision in the constitution that decisions of the courts of Justice and interpretation of the constitution shall be final and conclusive.
All parties were fairly represented either by themselves or by the alternate with all the petitioners feuding parties around too.The Chief Justice stated “we don’t want a situation where we call for a particular case and the petitioners or the attorneys are not around.In that instance the bench would passed judgment in their absence”. He also stated that he was only a presiding judge and had no voting rights and for that matter the other five justices had their voting rights.There were four cases dealt during the court hearing.
CASE 1
“A Contempt Against The UHAS SRC Court of Justices” was submitted by Mr. Mesu Washington and Mr. Gyapong Akrasi Stephen on the 7th August, 2021 and received at 10:46pm. The document sought to draw the attention to a supposed contempt act committed against the Court of Justices of the UHAS SRC by TEAM SUNNYDAYS after the SRC Court of Justices injuncted the declaration of the Presidential results on the 6 th August, 2021. The document further stated and I quote “we humbly implore the Court to as a matter of urgency act on this contemptuous act from the said Team”. The Bench unanimously declared that the case be thrown out of court on grounds that it didn’t merit a Court hearing.
CASE 2
Petition to nullify the LNUGS and SRC elections held on 6th august, 2021 by Mr.Ishaku Moro. Majority of the bench concluded that the petitioner was unable to prove that the breaches in the election software led to rigging of the election and all the anomalies stated in the petition had no statistical significance on the election. Hence, the Bench in a 4:1 decided not to nullify the entire elections.
CASE 3
This suit seeks to challenge the credibility of the voting software used in the conduction of the SRC/LNUGS Elections held on the August 6, 2021 by Mr. Cosmos Bubunyo(Lead Petitioner). The Bench unanimously declined the request to conduct a new free and fair elections based on the fact that the plaintiff failed to provide evidence supporting manipulations of the elections as a result of the change in Pin/Password before the elections. However, the bench tasked the EC to tighten the security of the voting software or any other voting software in future elections.
CASE 4
The issues surrounding the aspirant’s (Mr. Prosper Commey Oblitey) GPA should be thoroughly investigated and that the EC comes clear on the documents the aspirant submitted to the vetting panel. The federal presidential and vice-presidential aspirants pick one form as a team and as such any issues arising from the vice’s part affects the president and vice versa. Also, it was argued that The EC was wrong to allow Mr. Rudolph Sedem Amudzi contest without a running mate in the election since the ramifications of such an act was fatal to the democracy established by the SRC. In addition, they held the view that other federal aspirants, provincial aspirants and local NUGS aspirants have done no wrong on which the court should place an injunction on the whole election.
JUDGEMENTS
- A re-run of only the Presidential elections as major inexcusable constitutional breaches by the Electoral Commissioner as well as the Vetting Committee in carrying out their mandates.
- Fresh nominations be opened for only the Presidential candidates. Presidential candidate of the election subject to this trial would not pay for nomination forms but will not get a refund if he decides to back out of the election yet to be conducted. However, this nomination is opened to fresh candidates at the fee stipulated by the Electoral Commission.
- Vetting Committee Members during the vetting of the presidential candidates subject to this trial are relieved off their position except the Electoral Commissioner and the Legal Advisor who are mandatory members of the Vetting Committee as stipulated by the constitution under article 47.
- The Electoral Commission is ordered to pay a fine of GHC 1,000.00 the Chairperson pays GHC 400.00 and Two Deputies pay GHC 300.00 each.
- The Vetting Committee is ordered to pay a fine of GHC 800.00. Each member shall pay GHC 100.00. 6. Mr. Emmanuel Kwabena Boateng shall pay an additional GHC 200.00 for conflict of interest i.e. been a member of the Vetting Committee as well as being a WhatsApp group administrator of Team Asubonteng.
The justices of the court included;
Yeboah-Osei Kwame Isaac ( Presiding Judge )
Justice Mary Oppong-Marfo Adwoa
Justice Gagbe Charles Nukunu
Justice Lawrence Denueme
Justice Jennifer Owusu Justice Agbetsise Evelyn
Nice work there