Samuel Nartey George, the Ningo Prampram Member of Parliament, has harshly criticized a judge from the Tema High Court for directing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to permit the 16 party delegates who were not sworn in, following the party’s branch elections to participate in the just-concluded primary elections in the constituency.

The delegates who claimed the court had given them permission to cast a ballot in the elections on Saturday, were not included on the list of delegates for their constituency, therefore, they were unable to cast a ballot.

After they sued the party, the judge ruled that they should be permitted to vote. When they arrived at the voting location in the constituency to cast their ballots, however, confusion quickly spread.

Sam George, the parliamentary candidate who has been re-elected, addressed the matter in an interview on Tuesday, May 16 and said: “Because there had been an earlier Functional Executive Committee (FEC) decision that nobody should add or remove any name from the register that was used for the constituency conference, we should swear them in to comply with the court order but they cannot be added to the register for the purposes of this elections and they wouldn’t vote, this is stated in black and white.”

He stated that FEC had issued the directive months ago because the committee had noticed how some constituencies replaced names in its list, without going through the required processes.

“So even in Ningo Prampram, there were people who voted in the constituency conference who have died or who have left the constituency and we have legally gone through the process of replacement, they weren’t allowed to vote in this election because they were not executives at the time we had the constituency conference, that was two Fridays ago.
“Then last Friday, just before the elections on Saturday, they go back to court and I hear the judge doesn’t hear the case in open court and calls the case into his chamber and gives a directive that he is instructing that those 16 names should be added. I said I don’t know what the judge ate or what he drank. The judge has no power to give directives in matters that were not brought before him.”
Sam George

Sam George To Petition Chief Justice

Sam George additionally threatened to petition the Chief Justice’s office to look into the judge’s actions.

“I will bring a petition to the Chief Justice against that judge because he must be investigated for his conduct. A case is brought to you seeking an injunction on ward elections and then you go into the chamber to issue directives and a court order that people should be added to a register for parliamentary primaries.
“Who brought parliamentary primaries before you? Who told you, judges, have the power to extend their judgments beyond what is before them? I said if he thinks he has those powers, he should cite everybody for contempt but those people will not vote and they did not vote.”
Sam George

The Ningo Prampram MP argued that if the judge’s actions were correct, the judge should charge the MP with contempt in order to demonstrate his conduct.

“Judges must bear in mind that we have a lot of respect for them but they must be arbiters of law and not agents of confusion. His action led to the chaos in Ningo Prampram because if I bring a case before you seeking an injunction on a ward election, that injunction writ had not been amended to include a parliamentary primary, so on what basis are you giving orders relative to matter that is not before you? What is the judge’s interest?”
Sam George