The Agona Swedru Magistrate’s Court has thrown out a case filed to challenge the eligibility of Mrs. Cynthia Mamle Morrison, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection over her voter’s ID card.
The Minister was sued over claims that she breached the Constitutional Instrument which suggests that a person must be a resident of a community for at least four years before she or he could register at a center in the community.
Ward Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and polling agent for recent EC voter’s Registration exercise filed the case against the MP on the basis that, the MP registered at a community she no longer lived in.
Eric Yankey, Wawase in the statement of claim said the house of the MP [in the community she registered at] was too bushy for habitation and alleged that it had been sold by the MP.
He added that the MP did not participate in communal labor in the area as required of every member of the said community.
The four Defense Counsels of Mrs Morrison led by Deputy of Minister Communication and MP for Gomoa West, Alexander Kojo Kom Abban, argued that the case filed against the MP had no merit and prayed the court to throw it.
The Defense counsel further argued that the most statements made by the applicant had no justification.
The Defense Counsel also put up a strong argument, saying the MP had about two houses at Agona Swedru and could choose to sleep in any of them for security reasons.
Mr. Abban further stated that the claim by the applicant that the house had been sold by the MP was not supported by any documents.
He said Mrs Morrison did a lot of work in the community and prayed the Court to dismiss the claim that she dif not participate in communal labour.
The NDC Ward Chairman’s Counsels led by Mr Patrick Asamoah earlier argued among others that the house did not belong to the MP because she was not staying there.
The Court presided over by Mr Isaac Appiatu, said the applicant could not prove any strong case against Mrs Morrison who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Agona West, that the house used to register her name was not hers as claimed.
The Court ruled that the counsels for the applicant could not provide documents which showed that the house was sold by the MP and threw out the case.
It therefore urged the EC to allow Mrs Morrison, to go ahead and use her voters’ ID card to vote on December7, 2020.
Speaking to the media after the Court ruling, Mrs Morrison said she bought the house more than five years ago and wondered why the NDC was spreading lies about her to the people.
