The Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Jean Mensa, and her two deputies have been taken to court for contempt of court over the restricted voter registration process, and the High Court in Tema has scheduled November 24, 2023, to deliver a judgement on the contempt matter.
Precious Ayitah, the applicant, had asked the High Court to hold Mrs Mensa, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, and Samuel Tettey in contempt of court for continuing with the limited registration exercise in the EC district offices despite her injunction application that sought to halt the exercise.The Court, presided over by Justice Patricia Quansah, ordered the parties to submit written responses by November 16, 2023.
The parties will then meet again on November 24, 2023, for a decision.
Mrs Mensa, Dr Asare, and Mr Tettey were brought before the court under intense military and police protection.
Precious Ayitah, a resident of Otsebleku, near Afienya in the Greater Accra Region, which is about 44.3 kilometers from the EC district office in Prampram, said in her contempt suit against the EC Chairperson and her deputies that the originating motion on notice and interlocutory injunction was served on the respondents on September 8, 2023, to restrain them from proceeding with the limited registration exercise in the EC district offices.
She claimed that the respondents ignored the injunction suit and went through with the restricted registration process in the EC’s district offices.
In her affidavit in support of the application, Ms Ayitah stated that the respondent’s intention to proceed with the limited registration exercise at the district offices jeopardized the outcome of the initial interlocutory injunction application and the substantive suit that was filed in court, and thus was contemptuous of the court.
One of the applicant’s attorneys, Reindolf Twumasi Ankrah, who held brief for Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, stated that because the records demonstrate that the originating motion on notice was overrun by circumstances, their client had no choice but to continue with the contempt application.
Mr Ankrah then requested permission from the court to make an oral submission.
However, Justice Patricia Quansah ordered both sides’ lawyers to provide written comments by November 16 and rescheduled the hearing for November 24 to rule on the contempt matter.
This came after Justin Amenuvor, counsel representing the EC chairwoman and her deputies, stated in court that his clients had filed an affidavit opposing the contempt complaint.