Some aspirants in the District Assembly elections are demanding a refund of their monies after a Supreme Court verdict crushed plans to hold the March 3 rd elections.
An aspirant in the Efutu area in the Central region, Benjamin Ayi Mensah went to court after he was denied participation in the elections because he submitted his forms late.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has ruled that the entire election is unconstitutional because there is no law backing the process.
The ruling leaves one man happy and several thousands dejected, disappointed and depleted after weeks of strategising and campaigning, along with its attendant financing.
A frustrated aspirant told Joy News “some of us have to be paid.”
“They have the rules and they don't work with the rules and regulations. They have to be charged,” he continued.
Another said, “immediately I heard this news, I have to go and find another money”. Another aspirant complained that he has used his personal money to finance the campaign and was planning a float on Saturday to round off his campaign.
All the perishable goods he bought for the float will now go waste as far as his campaign is concerned.
Local governance Expert George Kyei Bafour told Joy News the Electoral Commission has “wasted everybody's time.”
“The integrity of the EC has come under scrutiny”, he said explaining that the commission had broken a “simple” constitutional provision.
The CI 85 became the Commission's undoing because the law on District Assembly demarcations needed to be passed by Parliament before the EC could open nominations.
But after the EC proceeded to open nominations without the maturing of the Constitutional Instrument, lawyer Afenyo Markins who represented Benjamin struck hard disassembling an entire electoral machine built on a false start.
The magnitude of the blow will lie in the local government's reality after March 21.
By that time the tenure of Assemblymen and women would have ended and over 20,000 vacancies will be left unfilled, grinding an entire local governance system to a historic halt.
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Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline|Edwin Appiah|[email protected]
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