The Chief Justice, Mrs. Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, has commended the President of Togo, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, for his commitment to constitutional rule and for deepening the bonds of friendship between Ghana and Togo. Chief Justice Wood made the commendation when she called on the President of Togo on Thursday in his office in Lome, as part of a three-day working visit to the Togolese Constitutional Court at the invitation of the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Aboudou Assouma. Mrs. Georgina Wood was grateful to President Faure Gnassingbe for agreeing to receive the Ghanaian delegation at very short notice, having returned from an overseas trip the previous night. The Chief Justice informed President Faure Gnassingbe that the purpose of her visit to the Constitutional Court was to trade knowledge and ideas on the resolution of electoral disputes to enhance democracy, peace and development in the two neighbouring countries. She told the Togolese President that their discussions had been very successful and mutually beneficial. Chief Justice Wood prayed for God’s guidance and blessings for him. She was accompanied on her visit by three Justices of the Supreme Court i.e. Justice Justice Jones Dotse, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie and Justice Sule Gbadegbe. President Faure Gnassingbe expressed delight at meeting the Chief Justice and her delegation. He admitted that Togo’s electoral system has in the past suffered major problems arising out of disagreements among the country’s political parties. As a result, he said his country had found it difficult to gain international respect for its electoral system but was happy that the situation had improved because of the work of its Constitutional Court. He was full of admiration for Ghana electoral system and recounted the insightful ideas he gained from his interaction with the President of the Peace Council, Cardinal Appiah Turkson, during his visit to Ghana in 2009. President Gnassingbe said despite the fierce rivalry that exists between the country’s two leading political parties, Ghana has always remained peaceful, citing the 2008 general election as a case in point. He said no country can live without democracy and that governments “can only delay it but not deny it to its people.” He intimated that the bedrock of democracy is a sound electoral system and a Judiciary that handles electoral disputes expeditiously in a firm and fair manner. President Faure Gnassingbe was happy to learn that in Ghana, judges are encouraged to sit every day including weekends and public holidays to hear electoral disputes and dispose of them timeously. He was informed by Chief Justice Wood and her three colleagues that electoral disputes arising out of parliamentary elections are dealt with by the High Court and end at the Court of Appeal while in the case of presidential elections, the Supreme Court hears the case. Election petitions follow strict procedures and must be filed 21 days after the results have been declared by the EC and gazetted. President Faure Gnassingbe admitted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) of Togo was not a cohesive unit because its membership was drawn from the country’s political parties and so the members tended to see their role through partisan lenses. He expressed the willingness of his country to modify the current arrangement along the lines of the Ghanaian example. In Ghana, the members of the Electoral Commission are appointed on a non-partisan basis while the tenure of the Chairman and his two deputies are secured from political manipulation and control. The Togolese President said his country’s Constitution is a bit unworkable because it borrows heavily from foreign cultures. He said the time had come for the country’s Constitution to tap into the experiences of its sub-regional neighbours. He was informed by Chief Justice Wood about the work of the Constitutional Review Commission which was tasked with the responsibility of receiving memoranda and suggestions from Ghanaians on possible areas of the Constitution that could be reviewed. He was happy to note that the membership of the Commission was well balanced and non-partisan and that the process was carried out without any major difficulties. Credit: Judicial Service