Chronicle of events: Why the Lower Manya Krobo municipality did not take part in Tuesday’s nationwide assembly elections
The Lower Manya Municipality is one of three districts in Ghana that did not vote in the local government elections on Tuesday. A youth activist in the area, Henking Adjase-Kodjo explains why…
- In the year 2010, government stirred an existing boundary dispute between the people of Manya Krobo in the Eastern Region and their Dangme brothers of the then Dangme West District (now Shai Osudoku District) in the Greater Accra.
- The government, through a Parliamentary Sub Legislation Committee, acted on the Local Government Instrument 2010 (LI 1983) and illegally moved seven electoral areas from the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region to the Dangme West District of the Greater Accra Region.
- The affected electoral areas which make up the Akuse township were Akutue, Zongo New Town, Osorkutu, Bungalow, Amedeka, Salon, and Natriku.
- Follow this illegal act by government, the Electoral Commission (EC) attempted to rope in the candidates of instead these seven electoral areas into the 2010 assembly election under the Shai Osudoku District the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality where they rightly belong. Note this area carefully.
5. It must be noted that, by this action, the EC, and government for that matter were illegally demarcating regional boundaries (the Eastern and Greater Accra regions) in a clear violation of the provisions in Chapter Two of the 1992 Constitution.
Note that by moving the seven electoral areas from Lower Manya Municipality to the Shai Osudoku District, government/EC were changing the boundaries of two regions, Eastern and Greater Accra. The constitution listed a series of processes which must be followed if regional boundaries are to be changed at any point in time, among which are:
i. The setting up of a Commission of Enquiry by the President to determine if there are the need and substantial demand for the creation, alteration or merger of any region(s). In this case, they were altering the Eastern and Greater Accra regional boundaries.
ii. If the Commission of Enquiry set up by the President satisfies itself about the need for the creation, alteration of boundaries or merger of the regions, it shall recommend to the President that a referendum be held to decide on the creation, alteration or merger.
NB: It is a tall list of provision, you may want to refer to Chapter Two of the Constitution and read the provisions in detail.
The government didn’t go through these processes and yet it went ahead to move the electoral areas from Lower Manya (Eastern Region) to Shai Osudoku (Greater Accra Region).
- Government and EC’s action infuriated the people of Manya Krobo who registered their displeasure by besieging the Lower Manya Krobo EC office and locking it up. It remained locked for several months and impeded the work of the Commission.
- Then the Manya Krobo Traditional Council, led by late Nene Azago Kwesitsu (TESCO) and late Mr Charles Mate-Kole (Chaley) took the action further by initiating legal action against the EC and placing an injunction on the process to restrain the EC from conducting assembly elections in the municipality without the seven electoral areas. The writ was issued in the Supreme Court on December 24, 2010, a copy of which I shall make available on demand.
- After one and half years of a needless legal battle occasioned by the action of government (December 2010 to June 2012), the Supreme Court declared LI 1983 (on which government and EC were basing their action) unconstitutional and thus retained the seven electoral areas which were in dispute in Lower Manya Krobo in the Eastern region. The Court gave its ruling on June 13, 2012. The nine-member panel of judges who sat on the case was Atuguba J.S.C (Presiding), Dr Date-Baah, Ansah, Adinyira (Mrs), Dotse, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah (who has just been nominated for the position of a Chief Justice), Baffoe-Bonnie, Gbadegbe and Akoto-Bamfo (Mrs).
- All this while, the Lower Manya Krobo municipality was without assembly members. It was being administered by an Interim Management Committee (IMT) under the leadership of the then Chief Executive, Mr Isaac Tetteh Agbo.
- More than two years after the nationwide assembly elections were held (that is halfway through their four-year tenure), and nearly one and half years after the Supreme Court ruled on the dispute in favour of the Chiefs and people of Manya Krobo – retaining the electoral areas in Lower Manya Krobo – the EC was still not showing any sign of holding the assembly elections, rendering the Lower Manya Krobo Assembly empty.
- Government/EC had to be compelled to hold the elections.
i. When was the Lower Manya Krobo election held eventually?
ii. How was the EC compelled to hold the election?
iii. What led to the declaration of ‘self-government’ in lower Manya?
iv. Who played what role in pushing the government and the EC to act?
v. Why was the commissioner of Kloma Gbi and 13 women/traders from the Agormanya market dragged to court?
vi. What became of the court action initiated against Gkloma GBI and the market women?
vii. Why was the leadership of Kloma Gbi dragged before the Regional Security Council, chaired by the then regional minister, Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso?
viii. How did Lower Manya Krobo end up having its calendar for assembly elections, away from the national calendar?
ix. Would our calendar ever be realigned with the national calendar? When? How?
I shall return.