Mr Speaker, the matters raised by my Hon Colleague, Yieleh Chireh actually laid the frustration of my Hon Colleague who spoke early on. He talked about the fact that at least, the Electoral Commissioner should have exercised some patience and not have proceeded with the indecent haste with which he has done what he did.
My Hon Colleague, in articulating the issues, simply made the point clearly without admitting or maybe, without
realising that he supported the point that he criticised, and that the Electoral Commissioner, in doing what he has done, is wrong.
First, he made the point that probably, the Supreme Court actually made a declaration that certain electoral areas were non existent or their creation was a nullity. Those people, he said, are there, still sitting in the various District Assemblies.
I would have thought that it was for precisely those reasons that the Electoral Commissioner decided in his wisdom to sanitise the Legislative Instrument (L.I. 83) that we have and make sure that we have the L.I. 85. But what is the reason, and indeed, the report makes it abundantly clear the Supreme Court, in various cases has indicated what is wrong, what is invalid, what is unlawful. The Hon Deputy Leader takes issue with the Hon Member from Winneba because he made a point of saying; “declaration”.
Mr Speaker, alright it is the Supreme Court, which has the constitutional mandate to make declarations. This House of Parliament has a constitutional right to say that something is wrong.
Declaration, apart from the legal connotation of it, it is English Language plain, simple, English Language. Let us be clear say it loud and clear to the hearing of the Electoral Commissioner, that what they have done is wrong. If it is not constitutionally wrong, it is morally reprehensible. Indeed, by the fact that we have been gun pressed to come in here on Monday to make sure that we give constitutional validity to this document, maybe, the 21 days would not have run. But we have come here today to make sure that we deliberate on the constitutionality of it, and to pass it and indeed, to give the Electoral Commissioner ample time latitude to proceed with what he
wants to do.
Mr Speaker, yesterday, in my con-stituency, a lot of people were running helter skelter and trying to file their [Interruption] on a Sunday and trying to file their whatever. I think it was the Friday, because that was the last day. What was the point Saturday, Sunday rushing to file this, and indeed, in doing that, the Electoral Commissioner was breaking, if not the letter, the spirit of what he himself has brought for us to do. If it were the case that the L.I 83 was of any validity and they could use it, then why rush and bring this thing to us?
Mr Speaker, let me just refer you to the very first page of the document the memorandum, paragraph the revocation and with your permission, I beg to quote;
“The Local Government creation... is hereby revoked…”
Mr Speaker, he brought this thing on the 21st November, 2014, and he is revoking it at that time. I assume that the revocation is when this thing comes into effect and the only reason he is revoking what my Hon Colleague is talking about, is because he himself is not comfortable with the validity of that one on the basis of what the Supreme Court had declared and so, he has sanitised this he has brought this for the House to go through, I will allow you [Interruption.] No! He does not allow us; the law allows your House 21 days [Interruption]
Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh rose
