Ningo Prampram Member of Parliament Samuel Nartey George has heavily criticized a Tema High Court judge for ordering the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to allow the 16 delegates of the party who were not sworn in after the party’s branch elections to partake in the just-ended primaries in the constituency.
The delegates who said they were cleared by the court to vote in the Saturday elections were not added to the constituency’s delegates list, meaning they could not take part in the polls.
The judge had ordered that they should be allowed to vote after they sued the party.
But confusion broke out when they appeared at the voting center in the constituency to cast their ballot.
Addressing this matter on the New Day show on TV3 Tuesday, May 16, Sam George who has been reelected the parliamentary candidate said “Because there had been an earlier Functional Executive Committee (FEC) decision that nobody should add or remove any name from the register that was used for the constituency conference, we should swear them in to comply with the court order but they cannot be added to the register for the purposes of this elections and they wouldn’t vote, this is stated in black and white.
“FEC had issued a directive as far back as February because they had noticed that in some other constituencies, people were replacing names and so they said no replacement. So even in Ningo Prampram there were people who voted in the constituency conference who have died or who have left the constituency and we have legally gone through the process of replacement, they weren’t allowed to vote in this election because they were not executives at the time we had the constituency conference, that was two Fridays ago.
“Then last Friday, just before the elections on Saturday, they go back to court and I hear the judge doesn’t hear the case in open court and calls the case into his chamber and gives a directive that he is instructing that those 16 names should be added.
“I said I don’t know what the judge ate or what he drank. The judge has no power to give directives in matters that were not brought before him.”
Sam George further threatened to file a petition against the judge at the Chief Justice’s office to investigate his conduct.
“I will bring a petition to the Chief Justice against that judge because he must be investigated for his conduct. A case is brought to you seeking an injunction on ward elections and then you go into the chamber to issue directives and a court order that people should be added to a register for parliamentary primaries.
“Who brought parliamentary primaries before you? Who told you, judges, have the power to extend their judgments beyond what is before them? I said if he thinks he has those powers he should cite everybody for contempt but those people will not vote and they did not vote.
“If the judge thinks he is the right he should cite me for contempt and let us see. I am saying that I will bring a petition against him to the judicial service and to the Chief Justice to investigate his conduct in this matter.
“Judges must bear in mind that we have a lot of respect for them but they must be arbiters of law and not agents of confusion, his action led to the chaos in Ningo Pramparm because if I bring a case before you seeking an injunction on a ward election, that injunction writ had not been amended to include a parliamentary primary, so on what basis are you giving orders relative to matter that is not before you? What is the judge’s interest?”
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