Christian Council urges churches to observe COVID-19 safety protocols during 31st night services
The Christian Council of Ghana has asked churches to strictly adhere to the coronavirus safety protocols during their watch night services on December 31. The Chairman of the Christian Council Ghana, Most Reverend Dr Kwabena Danso has been quoted in a Citi News report as saying that churches across the country can alter their services in a way that will ensure minimal risk of COVID-19 infection. “Social distancing must be observed, no one should come to church without the nose masks. Ensure congregants wash their hands and or sanitize them. Also, check their temperatures. Watchnight services are noted for waving of handkerchiefs, dancing, shaking hands, among many others. For the sake of fear of the virus. Let’s ensure that all these are restricted. “Churches could look at having virtual services in addition to the physical ones to reduce the number of people present at the church premises. Let’s also be sure to keep the services as brief as possible. Instead of closing hours after entering the new year, let’s be snappy and wrap up with some 20 minutes after midnight,” Most Reverend Danso is quoted in the report. Watchnight services on December 31 are a significant part of the activities that usher in the New Year in Ghana. The services draw huge crowds and this has raised concerns about a possible spike in the virus figures if safety protocols are neglected. Ghana’s cumulative coronavirus figure is 54,401 with 53,180 recoveries. Active cases currently stand at 888 with 333 deaths. angelonline Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.
‘No Mahama no peace’ – NDC supporters chant at Kasoa
Some supporters of the National Democratic Congress at Kasoa in the Central Region have held a demonstration against what they described as rigged polls by the Electoral Commission. The demonstration, led by some party executives in the region took place on December 29, 2020. This comes barely a week after the leadership of the Ghana Police Service secured a restraining order to ban all forms of demonstrations by aggrieved members of the NDC. Clad in red, black, and other party paraphernalia while wielding various placards, the aggrieved supporters of the NDC consistently chanted ‘No Mahama no peace’. Some of the inscriptions on their placards read; “Jezebel Jean Mensa will never know peace, better change your mind.” “Jean Mensa must declare Mahama as president-elect.” Meanwhile, the leadership of the NDC has made a conclusive decision to file a petition at the Supreme Court to seek redress over the outcome of the polls. Watch video for more; Ghanaweb Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.
AG files motion at Supreme Court to fight injunction against Amewu’s victory, swearing-in
The State, through the office of the Attorney General, has filed a motion on notice at the Supreme Court to overturn an interim injunction placed by the Ho High Court to stop the Electoral Commission from gazetting the parliamentary results of the Hohoe Constituency won by Energy Minister John Peter Amewu in the just-ended general elections. The interim injunction granted by the court, presided over by Justice George Buadi, followed an ex parte application by eligible voters in the newly-created Guan district. The applicants also prayed the court to restrain Mr Amewu from presenting himself to be sworn in as MP for the area or from holding himself out as such. The eligible voters, who are resident in the newly-created districts which include Santrofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi, were not allowed to vote in the December 7 parliamentary elections. As a result of the creation of the Oti Region and the subsequent creation of the Guan District which includes Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL), the Electoral Commission of Ghana gave a directive that the people of SALL should not vote in the parliamentary election in the Hohoe Constituency on December 7.” Mr Amewu polled 26,952 votes to beat the main opposition National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Margaret Kweku, who polled 21,821 votes. Meanwhile, the EC has revealed that it will begin the process of creating a new constituency in the Guan District when Parliament commences in 2021. The AG, among others, is seeking an order of certiorari directed at the Ho High Court, to bring to the apex court, for the purpose of being quashed, the orders of the Court dated 23 December 2020 in Suit No. E12/40/2021 titled: ‘In the matter of an application under Article 33 of the Constitution, 1992 and order 67 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I.47) and the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court between Professor Margaret Kweku, Simon Alan Opoku-Mintah, John Kwame Obompeh, Godfried Koku Fofie, Felix Quarshie and the Electoral Commission, Wisdom Kofi Akpakli, John-Peter Amewu and The Attorney-General’. The AG is also seeking an order prohibiting the Ho High Court from further hearing or conducting of proceedings in the matter. The State argues that the orders of the Ho High Court constituted a “patent error on the face of the record to the extent that they purported to confer on the applicants (interested parties herein), non-existent voting rights in respect of the Hohoe Constituency in the Volta Region”. The statement of case filed by the Attorney General on behalf of the Member of Parliament-elect for the Hohoe Constituency, said the facts of the case make it abundantly clear that the pursuit of the action filed by the interested parties at the High Court is an attempt to enforce a non-existent right. “The interested parties have already been told by this Honoruable Court that, to the extent that C. I. 95 places their traditional areas of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi in the Hohoe Constituency, same is unconstitutional. CI 95 ought to be amended in order to place the said traditional areas in the Oti Region. They ceased to be part of the Hohoe Constituency in Volta Region immediately the Oti Region was created and they were put thereunder.” “The alleged failure of the Electoral Commission to amend CI 95 to give effect to the boundaries of the new regions, does not mean that the interested parties together with the residents of the 4 areas, can continue to assert voting rights in the Hohoe Constituency. To do so will be inconsistent with article 47(2) which prohibits a constituency from straddling two regions, and will create further constitutional chaos,” the AG’s statement of case noted. “It is, thus, beyond doubt that the action at the High Court, Ho is a palpable abuse of the process. The wrongful assumption of jurisdiction by Justice Buadi, was a serious error apparent on the face of the record. This Court ought to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction to prevent a situation where the interested parties will, through the backdoor, surreptitiously seek to assert the right to vote in a manner which is constitutionally frowned upon. “The interested parties’ case is borne out of mischief and an attempt to judicially sanction an unconstitutionality. It is merely a vile attempt to upset the hard-won electoral victory of the winner of the parliamentary election in Hohoe constituency through an unjustified invocation of the court’s human rights jurisdiction,” the AG stated. Class Fm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.
Election petition: Only Mahama can go to court due to introduction of new rule – Kweku Baako
Veteran journalist and editor of the New Crusading Guide, Malik Kweku Baako Jnr has commended former president and NDC Flagbearer, John Mahama for “opting to activate Article 64(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana the same way then Candidate Akufo-Addo, his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the late Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, then the National Chairman of New Patriotic Party (NPP) did in the wake of the Declaration of the outcome of Election 2012!” Mr Baako asserted that the action of the National Democratic Congress Presidential candidate will further deepen the country’s democracy whichever way the result may go. Taking to his Facebook wall, the veteran journalist explained that despite the several exclamations of members of the NDC, per new rules which were gazetted on October 12, 2016, and came into force on January 5, 2017, only John Mahama is allowed to go to court to legally challenge the 2020 Presidential Election declared by the Electoral Commission.’ Members of the opposition NDC have indicated their intention of going to court as a party to challenge the election verdict declared by EC Chairperson Jean Mensa. They have among other things held nationwide protests to register their displeasure at the result of the December polls. But Kweku Baako maintains that by law, it is only the aggrieved loser, in this case, former President Mahama who can challenge the verdict in court. He said a repeat of the 2013 situation where the NDC applied to join the action/litigation even though it wasn’t initially included in the list of respondents will no longer be entertained. “Interestingly, Rule 4 of C. I. 99 has introduced a new Rule 69BA which effectively prohibits joinder or intervener of a person not stated in the Presidential Election Petition as a petitioner or respondent. What this means is that we shall not have a repetition of the 2013 situation where the NDC applied to join the action/litigation even though it wasn’t initially included in the list of respondents.” Article 64(1) of the Constitution provides that “the validity of the election of the President may be challenged only by a citizen of Ghana who may present a petition for the purpose to the Supreme Court within twenty-one days after the declaration of the result of the election in respect of which the petition is presented”. The authors of the Fourth Edition of the Manual under reference, after highlighting the purpose of Article 64(1), in my candid opinion, proceeded to pose a question of far-reaching implications and constitutional significance. “The question is: can the petition be brought by more than one Ghanaian citizen? ” Their answer was to the effect that: “The validity of the election of the President may be challenged only by a citizen of Ghana who may present a petition for the purpose to the Supreme Court” ENVISAGES THAT A PETITION, CHALLENGING THE VALIDITY OF THE ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT, MAY BE COMMENCED BY THE PERSON WHO HAD BEEN DECLARED BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION AS THE LOSING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. IN OTHER WORDS, THE ELECTION MAY BE CHALLENGED ONLY BY THE PERSON WHO ALLEGES THAT HE WAS THE WINNER AT THE ELECTION”(All caps- mine),” Baako added. Read his full post below: Ghanaweb Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.
NPP supporters urged to celebrate after Akufo-Addo’s swearing-in
The National Organiser of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sammi Awuku, has urged the teeming supporters of the party and Ghanaians to jubilate after the swearing-in of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo but should not be oblivious of the ‘huge’ task ahead. Mr. Awuku said the task ahead would be working hard to regain the parliamentary seats lost in the December 7 elections so that the NPP can remain the Majority in Parliament. The NPP National Executive Committee made these sentiments known in an interview with Onua TV’s 100 Degrees hosted by Kwame Tutu on Monday, December 28. “We should be happy about the majority in Parliament and the winning of the presidential slot but we should go back and work to regain the lost seats. We should be happy after the swearing-in of Nana Addo.” Mr. Awuku said “we shall regain all our lost seats because going into the elections, we knew we were going to face a lot of challenges. Some, we were able to solve, some, there was nothing we could do but the good news is that we did not go home with Minority”. Investigations He urged the party faithful to be calm because the party is investigating what led to the loss of some seats in the elections. “I can assure millions of NPP supporters we are launching investigations into why we lost.” He said “we expected to have won with so many votes. We set a target for ourselves but we all know the year has been a challenge globally and Ghana was not an Island”. Mr. Awuku explained that “we lost some and we gained some”. 3 News Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.
No judge should be Speaker of Parliament – Ras Mubarak
The outgoing Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kumbungu constituency, Ras Mubarak, has cautioned against the appointment of a judge as the next Speaker of the eighth Parliament. Mr Mubarak noted in an article he posted on Facebook that the new Speaker of Parliament should be someone who has served as an MP previously. Parts of his article read: “As far as I’m concerned, the nominee for the Speaker of the 8th Parliament of Ghana, should be someone who knows the standing orders (the rule book of parliament) thoroughly”. “It should also be someone who has been a former or a current MP and commands respect from both sides of the aisle. Above all, someone who can help build bridges, and get the job of running parliament done”. It continued: “Parliament is not an offshoot of the judiciary and the colonial culture of bringing in retired justices of the Supreme Court must be shot down by MPs. A speaker MUST be one of our own. “It is in the institution’s best interest to bring in someone who’s been MP before. Not doing so will starve parliament and the nation of institutional memory and the experience and knowledge required to navigate through a never-seen-before moment, as about to happen in the 8th Parliament. “It has never been in the best interest of parliament to elect persons without parliamentary background as Speaker”. Read the full article below: WHO WEARS THE ROBE? ELECTION OF THE SPEAKER OF THE 8th PARLIAMENT, WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR. The position of Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament as I know it, historically, has been reserved for persons above 60, except on two occasions when Aaron Eugene Kofi Asante Ofori-Atta, the fourth speaker of the first republic and Edward Doe Adjaho, the fifth speaker of the fourth republic were elected to the position, respectively. By convention, it has also gone to persons with a law background, though not a prerequisite. And I shall come to the reason why lawyers have always been favored. In the UK, age and education do not count as much as years of service in Parliament as MP. The current Speaker of the UK parliament, Sir Lindsay Hoyle is 63years. He became Speaker in 2019 after serving for 22years as an MP. He has no law degree. The Speaker before Sir Lindsay Hoyle is John Bercow. The Rt. Hon. John Bercow was MP for Buckingham from 1997 until 2010 when he became Speaker. He had a BA degree from the University of Essex. He also had no background in law. The late Michael John Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, was a steel metal worker with Rolls Royce and a trade unionist until his election as MP at the age of 33 in 1979. He was MP until the year 2000 when he got elected as the 156th Speaker of the British Parliament. He had no University degree. While age and law background are not the barometer for electing speakers of Parliament in the UK, all past and present speakers of Ghana’s parliament have been older and with legal education. It has been so because of our colonial history. The Speaker of the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly from 1951 to 1957, Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist, was a barrister and a judge. Sir Emmanuel Quist, later served as Speaker of Parliament when Ghana attained independence in 1957. He was succeeded by Augustus Molade Akiwumi, – 1958 to 1960. Akiwumi was also a lawyer & a judge before his election as Ghana’s second speaker of parliament in the first republic. The Rt. Hon. Joseph Richard Asiedu, another lawyer was the third speaker until 10th June 1965 when Aaron Eugene Kofi Asante Ofori-Atta, the fourth Speaker of parliament was elected. He held the position until 22nd February 1966. He was also a lawyer, MP for then Abuakwa Central and Begoro Constituencies, and held the positions of Local Government Minister and Minister for Justice before becoming the fourth Speaker of Parliament until the suspension of parliament after the 1966 coup. The second republic had only one speaker – Raphael Nii Amaa Ollennu. Justice Ollenu served from 1969 to 1972 when parliament was dissolved as a result of the military coup. He had been a justice of the Supreme Court before becoming speaker at the age of 63. The third republic had another judge, Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph, who before his appointment as speaker served under Kwame Nkrumah as Commissioner of Income Tax (the first African to hold that position in Ghana), and a judge in the second republic. From Justice D.F. Annan, through to Peter Ala Adjetey, Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi-Hughes, Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo, JSC, Edward Doe Adjaho and Prof. Mike Ocquaye, it is clear that every speaker of parliament has either been a judge or a lawyer with many years of experience at the bar. Choosing lawyers as Speakers of Parliament is one of the vestiges of colonisation we are yet to shed off. As far as I’m concerned, the nominee for the speaker of the 8th parliament of Ghana should be someone who knows the standing orders (the rule book of parliament) thoroughly. It should also be someone who has been a former or a current MP and commands respect from both sides of the aisle. Above all, someone who can help build bridges, and get the job of running parliament done. Parliament is not an offshoot of the judiciary and the colonial culture of bringing in retired justices of the Supreme Court must be shot down by MPs. A speaker MUST be one of our own. It is in the institution’s best interest to bring in someone who’s been MP before. Not doing so will starve parliament and the nation of institutional memory and the experience and knowledge required to navigate through a never-seen-before moment, as about to happen in the 8th Parliament. It has never been in the best interest of parliament to elect persons without parliamentary background as Speaker. It’s like asking a non-lawyer to be Chief Justice and I hope we do not revisit the practice of bringing outsiders, persons who’ve never been MP to run parliament. All the names
MTN GHANA DONATES GIFTS TO CHRISTMAS BORN BABIES
Office of the Upper East branch of MTN Ghana, a leading country telecommunication has distributed assorted items which includes, towels, diapers, blankets, toiletries, clothes, soap, and some other baby necessities to mothers of 13 babies delivered on Christmas day at the Nalerigu Baptist Medical Center. According to the Territory Sales Controller for the Upper East Region Mr. Richard Asamane, who spoke to Apexnewsgh.com after making the presentation to mothers of the Christmas born babies, said MTN Ghana believes in humanitarian gestures and as part of their yearly activities, they always visit hospitals every December 26th to put a smile in the faces of nursing mothers and their newborns by way of sharing with them some basic necessities needed to take care of their children. Meanwhile, the Staff Midwife who was at the post on Boxing Day December 26, Madam Josephine Ayamga, expressed satisfaction with such a humanitarian gesture and show of love exhibited by MTN Ghana. She said five males and seven females were delivered and out of the 13 deliveries, six went through normal delivery whiles the other six went through caesarean section. Meanwhile, the Staff Midwife who was at the post on Boxing Day December 26, Madam Josephine Ayamga, expressed satisfaction with such a humanitarian gesture and show of love exhibited by MTN Ghana. She said five males and seven females were delivered and out of the 13 deliveries, six went through normal delivery whiles the other six went through caesarean section. However, Madam Ayamga used the opportunity to ask for more support from the leading telecommunication. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.
NDC may not achieve reversal of electoral outcome with planned election petition – Manteaw
Chair of the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas, Dr Steve Manteaw, has noted that the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), may not achieve a reversal of the outcome of the 2020 elections. This, according to him, is because of the purposive interpretation of law. He however, said the party will win public sympathy if they are able to prove their case in court. “The NDC should note: Because of the purposive interpretation of law, they may not achieve a reversal of the 2020 electoral outcome. “They will however, win the sympathy of Ghanaians if they’re able to prove their case. #managingexpectation,” Dr Manteaw said in a Facebook post. The NDC have said they will be filing a petition to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. A member of the legal team of the NDC, Rockson-Nelson Este Kwami Dafeamekpor who is also Member of Parliament for South Danyi revealed this over the weekend. He said “Whatever result declaration that have been made must be in accordance with the CI 127, it is as simple as that.” When asked who has the power to declare the elections null and void, he answered “it will take a court of law to do that. So somebody has to complain that the law has not been complied with and that is what the NDC is doing. So we will go to court, we have made that clear. “Certainly by Wednesday all these matters will be placed before the court. We are suing the presidential as well.” 3 News Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.
EC’s Jean Mensa going into the dock as NDC files election petition today
Barring any last minute changes, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will today file a petition against the 2020 Presidential result declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) on Wednesday, December 9. The Herald is informed that the party’s lawyers led by Tsatsu Tsikata, will be focusing on the Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Mensa to justify the numbers and percentages she mentioned, as having been obtained by the various Presidential candidates. This is not to overturn the Presidential results as declared but to establish the actual votes obtained by the two frontrunners in the election; Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and John Dramani Mahama of the NDC. After the filing, Mr Mahama will address a press conference at a location yet to be announced. The NDC Legal team is made up of Tsatsu Tsikata, Nana Ato Dadzie, Fui Tsikata, Dominic Ayeni, Tony Lithur, Dr. Bassit Bamba, Samuel Cudjoe, Marietta Brew Appiah- Oppong, Victor Kojoga Adawudu, Edudzi Kudzo Tameklo, Dr. Abraham Amaliba, Dr. Rainer Akumperigya and Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, the Member of Parliament for South Dayi in the Volta Region. Some of the lawyers, hold the view that per Jean Mensa’s numbers, the worst-case scenario for the just-ended election was a runoff between Akufo-Addo and John Mahama, but not an outright victory for the NPP candidate. In this regard, Jean Mensa, like Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan in 2013 in the election petition, will be the focal point of the NDC’s legal team, hoping to extract as much information from her as possible to buttress the claims by both mathematicians and statisticians that Mrs Mensa’s mathematics was wrong. The many times she changed the figures she declared but kept saying the changes were not affecting the overall percentages obtained by the 17 candidates who took part in the race, has heightened the suspicions that something sinister took place behind the scenes ahead of the declaration of President Akufo-Addo as president-elect. The Herald’s information from the NDC legal team is that, while some of the lawyers felt that the party should go with the audited results by focusing on various infractions noted at the polling stations and collation centres, others believe that the time allotted the hearing is too short to traverse that path, hence Jean Mensa should just be made to justify her numbers. The lawyers pushing for the infractions to be placed before the Supreme Court judges insist there had been ballot box stuffing and over voting in certain parts of the country, particularly the Ashanti Region, and this must be dealt with by the apex court. The group has results from over 18,000 polling stations to push their case, however, those against the infractions are arguing that the Supreme Court, had in the 2013 election petition, filed by Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Obtsebi-Lamptey, made a determination on that, saying it is not enough ground to overturn the declared result. For now, all attention is on Chief Justice Anin Yeboah, as to whether he would allow cameras into the courtroom as happened in 2013, when the then Chief Justice Georgina Wood, made history by opening the doors of the courtroom to TV cameras to enable Ghanaians to follow the proceedings presided by the now retired, Justice William Atuguba. Meanwhile, a member of the NDC legal team, Dr. Amaliba, has intimated that the party would make a request to the Chief Justice Anin Yeboah to repeat the 2013 scenario. Dr. Amaliba said such a request would be in the interest of fairness. Chief Justice Wood, in 2013, allowed cameras into the courtroom, following a demand made by Gabby Asare-Otchere Darko of the NPP for a live broadcast of the proceedings of their petition contesting the 2012 general elections result. Last Saturday, the NDC’s Lawyer, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, formally announced that the petition would be filed this week Wednesday, but The Herald has picked up a report that the party has decided to do so a day ahead of time. Also on the bill, is the parliamentary results of the Techiman South Constituency, where the results declared in favour of Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsa, has been challenged by the NDC, which is demanding some documents as proof that the NPP candidate had won the seat at a place where its Presidential candidate John Mahama, beat Akufo-Addo with 52,034 as against 46,379 votes. The NDC insists that its candidate, Christopher Bayere, won the seat by 293 votes, but the EC is yet to release the document to the NDC to clear its doubt over that constituency. Dr. Amaliba told Citi News “We expect to be treated fairly, this is a national issue. We also expect that if we are able to make our case beyond a reasonable doubt, I am sure that the Supreme Court will hold that Nana Akufo-Addo, did not attain the required 50 +1 votes.” “Indeed, we also expect that the petition will be telecast live. Any attempt to hinder that will create the impression that the hearing is not going to be fair, so we will put in the request to have it telecast live,” he indicated. The NDC flagbearer, John Mahama, has refused to accept Akufo-Addo’s election victory. He described the election results announced by the EC as “fictionalised.” “I stand before you tonight unwilling to accept the fictionalised result of a flawed election,” Mr Mahama had said at a press conference. “What we witnessed across the country from Monday 7th December 2020, exposed a deliberate plan to manipulate and predetermine the results of the election in favour of the incumbent candidate Nana Akufo-Addo,” he added. The EC announced President Akufo-Addo, as the rightful winner of the December 7 polls on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, despite concerns raised by the NDC. President Akufo-Addo won with 6,730,587 (51.302%) of the total votes cast. Mr Mahama came second with 6,213,182 votes representing 47.359%. The Herald Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093.