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Abraham Amaliba, a member of the legal team for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), says that for the seven-day period recommended by the Supreme Court to present an electoral petition to be recognized, it will be necessary to amend Ghana’s constitution.
According to him, the Electoral Manual is subjugated by an ingrained constitutional provision that leaves room for a 21-day preparation period and can therefore only be recognized by referendum.
“If you insist that it is an amendment, then I find it difficult to appreciate that because the entire Chapter 8 of Article 64 is an ingrained clause, so we would need some kind of referendum to have that change from 21 to seven days. So, as we speak now, it is still the law, and that Manual cannot modify that provision, “he said.
His comment follows a disclosure by the chairman of the Election Manual Review Committee, Justice Jones Dotse, that the Supreme Court has made the decision to resolve any lawsuit challenging the presidential election within 42 days.
In accordance with this, all political parties have been warned to submit petitions within seven days after the election results were declared.
But talking to Joy news On Tuesday, Mr. Amaliba expressed disapproval of the development, stating that more time is needed to present a quality case in court.
“It depends on how quickly a petitioner can gather his evidence. We came to court with evidence, so the framers of the constitution thought that 21 days was enough to gather evidence after the results of an election were declared. That is why I believe that in order not to stampede a petitioner to go to court without evidence, the 21 days are still the best.
Although he was in favor of the Court’s intention to prevent a repeat of the 2012 electoral petition that lasted for about 8 months, Mr. Amaliba opposed the proposed 42-day trial period.
He explained that the statute of limitations denies an attorney sufficient time to effectively handle a petition.
