Lawyer and Convener of the Fix The Country Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has expressed his discontent with the Electoral Commission’s (EC) denial of disenfranchising residents of SALL in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

He described the EC’s statement regarding the accusation made by the President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, about disenfranchising the SALL constituents as “damning.”

His comment comes after the EC, in a statement on Tuesday, May 14, dismissed accusations by Mr Cudjoe that it disenfranchised the people of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi, and Lipke (SALL) from voting in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

The Commission clarified that the allegation by the IMANI-Africa President accusing them of such an act is “false and without basis.”

Read also: IMANI’s accusations that we disenfranchised SALL baseless – EC

“The Commission never disenfranchised the good people of the newly created Guan Constituency. It is not in our interest to do so,” part of the statement read.

The EC’s seven-point clarification outlined that, it adhered to all legal procedures in the creation of the newly established Guan Constituency and did not disenfranchise any residents in the process.

“It is unfortunate that IMANI continues to peddle falsehood and untruths about the Commission at every point and turn. His [Franklin Cudjoe’s] narrative that the Commission disenfranchised the people of SALL, now the Guan Constituency, is FALSE. We urge the public to verify information put out by IMANI, with the Commission for the truth and the facts."

Reacting to the EC’s statement on Wednesday, May 15, Mr Barker-Vormawor asserted that the Chief Justice conspired to shield the EC Chairperson, Jean Mensa, from scrutiny, claiming she started to “confuse the culture of impunity that protects her with righteousness.”

“The EC has now put on record that it was the Minister of Local Government who directed the independent Electoral Commission to create a constituency, and they then started complying, despite clear constitutional language that the mandate of the EC to create a constituency is not to be shared with the President or his appointees.

"They want Ghanaians to accept that it was not the Supreme Court decision as far back as July that necessarily required them to create the constituency but the Minister of Local Government’s letter [was] in November,” Mr Barker-Vormawor stated.

He argued that the EC claimed that the law required them to submit the Constitutional Instrument (CI) to the Attorney General and that doing so caused delays in laying the Legislative Instrument (LI).

This, Mr Barker-Vormawor questioned the EC's assertion that the same AG who criticised their actions as unconstitutional is somehow responsible for the Commission's delay in creating the Guan Constituency.

The flaws in our democracy become evident when such explanations are given, he said.

Meanwhile, the President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has expressed disappointment in the Electoral Commission (EC) for denying that the people of Santrokofi, Apkafu, Lolobi and Lipke (SALL) were disenfranchised during the 2020 parliamentary elections.

According to Mr Cudjoe, the EC is being brazenly dishonest.

He insisted that the people of SALL do not have representation in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic; the proof that they were disenfranchised.

Read also: Disenfranchising SALL residents: It’s brazenly dishonest for EC to accuse me of falsehood – Franklin Cudjoe

“It is brazenly dishonest on the part of the Electoral Commission to refer to my statement about the people of SALL being disenfranchised as “falsehood and misinformation” or “falsehood and untruths about the Commission”. None of the so-called “facts surrounding the inability of the residents of SALL now the Guan Constituency, to vote in the 2020 Parliamentary Election” that are recited in the 14th May 2024 statement of the Electoral Commission, can take away the simple, indisputable fact that, on the eve of the 2020 elections, the Electoral Commission publicly announced that the people of SALL could not vote in the Parliamentary election.

“The people of SALL were, therefore, disenfranchised and are not represented in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic,” he added.