Tsatsu Tsikata pushes for Justice Honyenuga to recuse himself from Amewu’s case

This comes after some residents of Santrofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi secured an injunction against the swearing-in of Mr. Amewu.

The residents argued that their exclusion from the just-ended parliamentary elections amounted to a breach of their rights.

However, the Attorney General, Gloria A. Akuffo, subsequently filed a motion challenging the injunction.

Tsatsu Tsikata ece-auto-gen

Tsatsu Tsikata, who is lawyer for the residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi, was in court today, January 4, 2020, to argue out their case.

He argued that Justice Honyenuga must recuse himself from Mr. Amewu’s case due to his long-standing relationship with the MP-elect.

According to him, the Supreme Court judge was likely to be biased since he was very close to Mr. Amewu.

He noted that the practice of the court in such issues makes way for trial within the trial to allow the party raising the objection to establish their case of bias or otherwise.

Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame argued to the contrary, saying the allegations of bias were unsubstantiated.

In another election-related court case, the Minority Members of Parliament (MPs) are unlikely to appear before court today despite being summoned following their march to the head office of the Electoral Commission (EC).

Twenty (20) legislators of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been sued by the state for protesting against the results of the 2020 elections.

The NDC MPs are expected to appear before the Accra Magistrate Court today after being summoned, however, they are unlikely to honour it.

The MP for Kunbungu, Ras Mubarak, said the Police summon was unlawful, citing Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution, which says: “civil or criminal process coming from any court or place out of Parliament shall not be served on, or executed in relation to, the Speaker or a member or the clerk to Parliament while he is on his way to, attending at or returning from, any proceedings of Parliament.”

Mr. Mubarak told Joy News that Parliament will sit today and “unless the speaker explicitly releases any MP, no one can summon them to any court. So, this is an illegality.”

“They should follow the Constitution. They should contact the speaker to inform him of what they want to do, the speaker will give directions, invite the parties, and discuss it before any such service can be served on MPs.

“But you don’t send these things to MPs and leak it to the media and expect that any MP will take you seriously. They are taking us into the abyss.”

He added: “Personally, I will not be in court. Because the proper thing has not been done. I get the indication that is the position of my colleagues too.

“I have not seen any letter from the speaker’s office permitting them to serve me as an MP.”