Gyakye Quayson case: We disagree with you but you’re qualified to be CJ – Minority to Torkornoo
Representative of the minority caucus on the appointments committee of parliament have said they will not withhold their approval of the Chief Justice nominee Gertrude Araba Essaba Torkornoo by consensus although they disagree with her interpretation of the text of the 1992 Constitution as regard the James Gyakye Quayson case. The minority’s position comes after the Supreme Court released a document detailing the reasons for annulling the election of James Gyakye Quayson as MP for Assin North, as a result of which it ordered parliament to expunge his name from its records. The minority, in a statement signed by the Deputy Ranking Member of the appointments committee, Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza, noted that when the CJ nominee appeared before the vetting committee, she said she was a textualist in her preferred approach to interpreting the 1992 Constitution. With this in mind, the minority caucus noted that the text in dispute in the James Gyakye Quayson case was Article 94(2)(a) of the Constitution, which read “94(2) a person shall not be qualified to be a member of parliament if “(a) owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana”. The minority said at the time of being sworn in as an MP, Mr Quayson had successfully renounced all allegiances to any other country and his allegiance was to only the Republic of Ghana. The minority is of the view that the controlling provisions in the resolution of the dispute are the words “qualified to be a member of parliament”. The statement said they are disappointed that a textualist like Justice Torkornoo abandoned the text and chose to read into the text, a replacement text: “Qualified to file nomination papers to contest for an election as a member of parliament” The statement added that while the clear language of the Constitution was dealing with qualification, “to be a member of parliament”, the Supreme Court veered off and was dealing with “eligibility or qualification of a person to contest as a Member of Parliament”. Regardless, the Minority noted that James Gyakye Quayson is gearing up to contest the by-election in Assin North constituency, which has been brought about by the Supreme Court decision, and, in that regard, “we the members of the appointment committee representing the NDC will not withhold our approval of the CJ nominee by consensus.” The Minority stated that Justice Torkornoo’s CV reveals a person of considerable experience having serve as a judge from the High Court to the Court of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court. “Women who have acquitted themselves should be given opportunities to occupy key national offices. Even as we disagree with her jurisprudence, we find her qualified to occupy the high office of Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana,” the statement noted. According to the Minority, the image of the judiciary is not in a good shape because several opinion polls show that and expressed hope that Justice Gertrude as a Lady Chief Justice, will restore the dignity of the judiciary. —Classfm—
Come with proof or withdraw your palpable falsehood with immediate effect or be invited by police—Bolga Central NPP to NDC Isaac Ayemvoa
Members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Bolgatanga Central, have called on the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Secretary Isaac Ayemvoa to come with proof of his allegations or withdraw with immediate effect and apologize unreservedly in the next 48 hours or consider been invited by the police. In a statement read by Tabitha Apegyine Ayillah Communication Officer, Bolgatanga Central, the governing New Patriotic Party said, they have intercepted messages from the NDC’s Bolgatanga constituency Secretary, in the person of Isaac Ayemvoa, saying that “the Fulani’s are protected under the instructions of Dr. Bawumia and his wife Samira at the stadium” by the police. A pronouncement the NPP Bolgatanga Central described as unfounded and a palpable falsehood. It would be recalled that a few weeks ago, the Fulani herdsmen, occupying the forest of the Sherigu community were accused of engaging in dastardly malpractices such as armed robbery, rape, killings etc. This sparked off hostile bloody clashes between the two factions and subsequently led to the removal of the herdsmen from the village to Bolgatanga stadium in the interim. Meanwhile, views shared on the said issue on a local radio station by the NDC secretary have not gone well with the governing New Patriotic Party in the area. Kindly read the full statement: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE REFUTATION OF FALSE CLAIMS: VICE PRESIDENT, SECOND LADY, AND THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY NOT COMPLICIT IN RECENT UNREST IN SHERIGU COMMUNITY -IGNORE THE NDC’S BASELESS CLAIMS The once peaceful community of Sherigu, a suburb of Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, on the 4th of June, 2023 had scores of their youth arrested and remanded in police custody for two weeks. It would be recalled that, a few weeks ago, the Fulani herdsmen, occupying the forest of the Sherigu community were accused of engaging in dastardly malpractices such as armed robbery, rape, killings etc. This sparked off a hostile bloody clashes between the two factions and subsequently led to the removal of the herdsmen from the village to Bolgatanga stadium in the interim. The attention of the NPP party has been drawn to some baseless claims made by the insensitive NDC, and their posture in the whole situation leaves much to be desired. We hereby implore all and sundry to treat these claims with all the contempt it deserves, because it is a needless propaganda seeking to tarnish the image of the NPP party. We have intercepted messages from the NDC’s Bolgatanga constituency secretary, in the person of Isaac Ayemvoa, saying that “the Fulani’s are protected under the instructions of Bawumia and his wife at the stadium” by the police. This is his personal view, which is unfounded and a palpable falsehood. 2. He also claimed that “so it is ok for the Fulani’s to have protection but as for the Sherigu community they can be shot with live bullets” and added that “on what capacity did Samira visit the Fulani’s”? These misleading and unguarded statements are aimed at tarnishing their good names and to court disaffection to the esteemed second couple of the land. We stand firmly behind the integrity and dedication of the vice president and the Second Lady who have consistently demonstrated their commitment to serving the nation with utmost patriotism, passion and professionalism. Word on the streets also being falsely spread is that, the wife of the veep, Mr. Samira Bawumia has been sending food from Accra to Bolga, using the state’s finances and resources to feed the Fulani’s. This is absolutely preposterous and incongruous and the lowest from the NDC’s vile propaganda machinery. The Bolga central NPP, hereby call on Isaac Ayemvoa to come with proof of his allegations or withdraw with immediate effect and apologize unreservedly in the next 48 hours or be invited by the police. Such misleading comments only serve to create unnecessary tension and divert the real issues at hand. Isaac Adongo, MP for the constituency was seen on the 29th May, 2023 at a spot opposite the Abole junction cooling off while the Regional Minister, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), and Bolga central NPP chairman were busily trying to solve clashes between the two but yesterday at the court, he appeared with food wrapped in black polyphones and distributing them to the people who had been arrested. He was, however, never interested in the situation when they were still at the negotiation stage. He has shown little interest in genuinely addressing the situation. Instead, he has chosen to aid his party followers in marring the situation at hand. Their cheap ways of scoring political points at the expense of the people’s plight will never wash. It is worth noting that, when the people of the community called on him on the 19th of March, 2023 to put before him their problems and challenges which he claimed he would help them solve when elected, he never turned up neither did any of the NDC leadership honor their invitation. This is clear that, they have never cared about a hoot about the people of Sherigu nor the cries to have electricity sent to their residences. We strongly condemn any attempt to spread false information that fuels and panic among the community members. Our law enforcement agencies have been working diligently to maintain peace and security in the area and such misleading statements only hinder their effort as they are baseless and lack any foundation in reality. We want to reassure the Sherigu people that we will work hand in hand with the authorities, to have the right things done to ensure that Sherigu returns to normally and peace restored. Tabitha Apegyine Ayillah Communication Officer, Bolgatanga Central Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0256336062
Sherigu/Fulani Misunderstanding: 8 out of 53 arrested Sherigu residents released
Some residents of the Sherigu community of the Bolgatanga Municipal in the Upper East Region have been arrested and remanded by the Police. Information gathered by Apexnewsgh.com has it that the residents numbering 53 were arrested for attacking police officials. According to sources, the misunderstanding started between the Fulani and the people of the Naaga community after a Chief’s son was robbed and killed on his way returning home. The incident generated some amount of controversy and hands were immediately pointed at the Fulanis as culprits for all the arm robbery cases along Sherigu- Naaga road. Community members immediately demanded that Fulani vacate their community with animals. Sources say properties belonging to these Fulanis were destroyed before police intervened. Days later, the issue also escalated to Sherigu a nearby community as they also demanded that the Fulani people must leave their community because the robbery incident was beginning to get out of hand. Sources say, community members also went and destroy things belonging to the Fulani people including their animals. Police quickly intervened and rescued the headsmen to their station and later moved them to the Bolga sports stadium. However, after calming the situation, the information says, police received another tip of an alleged plan by some residents to attack the Fulani’s and immediately started making arrests of the leaders. It was based on that, community members matched to the police to demand the release of their people and unfortunately had some confrontations with police. Our source says, the community members did not engage the chief of the area before carrying out their actions. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0256336062
Dr. Kuganab-Lam, defeated Binduri NDC Parliamentary Candidate claims there are lot of evil and witchcraft in the Binduri NDC party
The defected and angry Binduri NDC Parliamentary candidate at the just-ended internal primaries, Dr. Robert Baba Kuganab-Lem has described his party members as evil and vicious. Dr. Kuganab-Lem made the pronouncement during an engagement on Dreamz Fm a local radio station operating in the regional capital also monitored by Apexnewsgh.com. Even though Dr. Kuganab-Lem claimed, his opponent Mr. Mahmoud stands a better chance of winning the seat for the NDC, he also believes those around the Parliamentary Candidate elect are treacherous people who do not mean well for the party. “I have confidence in him. He is the best candidate because he has emerged victorious. What I’m honestly deflated about is the fact that he was supported by treacherous people, people who sold NDC in the past and are likely to sell NDC in the present,” he told the host. “People voted for him because they hated me, that was the reason” “It is difficult to know who is a party member now in Binduri, very difficult. Because if you are a party member, you don’t look at destruction, you look at construction. So, there are few people who are wolves in sheep’s clothes, they don’t like me, they don’t like the progress of the party and they don’t like even the fellow they had voted for. So, it is a very difficult maze that we have to traverse. Binduri is a conflicted constituency” As he was continuously using words like evil, and witchcraft to describe happenings in the Binduri NDC party. The defeated Dr. Kuganab-Lem also believes Mr. Mahmoud wasn’t the favorite candidate for the in Binduri, but stresses that, they did everything including seeking support from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to ensure he emerged victorious “There are a lot of evil things that people did, and I saw them with my naked eyes, I wouldn’t want to mention it but, there is a lot of witchcraft in this Binduri issue, a lot of witchcraft, bad practices, destructive. Let me tell you, atimes when we read the bible and they tell us how Jesus was betrayed and how people are evil, people he was eating with, Judas had to kiss him, you think this is a story, the evil that leads them, is still living with us”. He said The angry and defeated Dr. Kuganab-Lam also cautioned the party’s candidate to be careful of people around him stressing they could also plot his defeat in the General Elections in 2024. Dr. Kuganab-Lem was prevented from going back to Parliament in 2020 by the NPP’s Binduri candidate Abdulai Abanga. A defeat that shocked the party hierarchy. Unfortunately, his dream of going back to parliament after the 2024 general election has become another added history after Issifu Mahmoud a resigned police officer and legal practitioner gave him a run for his money. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0256336062