Reality has finally ‘hit’ John Peter Amewu in the face such that he is now evading service. When it became apparent that injunction had been granted by the Ho High Court retraining, among other things, the EC from gazetting Amewu as MP-elect for Hohoe, the Energy Minister appeared unfazed by it. He took to his official social media handle to display a gazette notification by the EC indicating that the Hohoe result had been gazetted a day before the injunction was granted. The Minister was of the opinion that the application was moot since what it was seeking to stop was executed a day before. To him, it was a home and dry issue.
In the midst of Amewu’s jubilation which was like a second victory for him after the contentious Parliamentary election, I put up a post and made the point that Mr Amewu was ignorantly misleading his gullible supporters. I used the word ‘ignorant’ to describe Amewu’s conduct because I realized he had not read the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs. I was convinced that even if he had read the reliefs at all, he didn’t understand what the reliefs meant and their effect on his quest to be sworn in as MP on January 6, 2021.
I made the point that if I was in Amewu’s shoes, I would be worried about the third relief, which injuncted him from presenting himself to be sworn in as MP for Hohoe on January 6 when all MP-elect will ready themselves to take the oath of office. Beyond Amewu, there were other NPP aficionados and, of course, footsoldiers, who made the point that the interim injunction would last for 10 days and that, Amewu would be ‘free’ after January 3. My response was, ‘in a matter of days, we will all know what the future holds for Amewu.”
Now there you have it – Amewu is evading service. In short, he is running away from being served an order he earlier suggested would have no bearing on him. If indeed the order as granted by the court will be ineffectual, Amewu would have been the first person to avail himself to be served the order. But I can understand why he is evading service. Lawyers in his Party have since briefed him on the effect of the reliefs granted by the court and how he may be excluded from taking the oath of office as MP on January 6. Reality has set in. Mr Amewu maybe that MP that never was!
Again, Amewu ‘ignorantly’ thinks by evading service, he can sneak to Parliament on January 6, and take the oath of office as MP. I have repeated the word ‘ignorant’, of course in its loose sense, again to indicate that Amewu is unaware that even if the bailiffs do not get to serve him in person, there are other means he could be served. He has worsened his case by allegedly unleashing hoodlums on bailiffs who wanted to serve him the order. If I were him, I would take the order and look for means to deal with it than running away from it. I would not say what would be done or happen in the unlikely event he is not served before the 10 days expiration. It is not my job to give him clues. The lawyers in the NPP know what is stock for Amewu on this torrid journey.
As it stands now, Amewu cannot be counted as part of the NPP MPs elect that will be sworn in on January 6. For purposes of argument, if the other disputed Parliamentary results NDC wanted to be resolved before January 6, are not resolved, then the NPP and President Akufo Addo should start ‘weeping’. It is in the utmost interest of the NPP and Akufo Addo to have those issues resolved before January 6. If the situation stands as it is now, then NPP has 136 seats, NDC has 137, and 1 independent (with Hohoe injuncted). This will give the NDC the much-needed majority based on its numerical strength of 1 to propose the next Speaker of Parliament.
The fact that the independent candidate from Fomena has indicated he will sit with the NPP and vote with them does not mean he would technically be counted as part of NPP MPs in Parliament to give them 137 MPs from the onset. The Fomena MP’s siding with NPP MPs will only reflect in voting on the floor of Parliament. This is where I foresee a repeat of what happened on the floor of the House on January 6, 2005, where then the majority, NPP nominated a candidate for Speaker and then Minority, NDC also nominated a candidate for the same position. In the end, the election of the Speaker was put to vote and the NPP used their convincing numerical strength to go pass the NDC.
So on January 6, 2021, the probable situation the country and the world is likely to witness is that both NDC and NPP will nominate their preferred candidates for Speaker. A need will arise for voting and, all things being equal, it is likely to end up in a stalemate, that is if the Fomena MP votes for the NPP candidate as he had indicated. The consequences of this hardened stance would not urger well for the NPP and President Akufo Addo. I would not go into the consequences but the NPP themselves know it. It will be in NPP and President Akufo Addo’s interest in dialogue with NDC and allow them to have their deserved choice of Speaker. Anything short of this will portend danger for President Akufo Addo – he might see the big House, wishing to temporally occupy it before he is eventually kicked out by the Supreme Court, but may not achieve that dream. If the NPP decides to gamble but facing off with the NDC with the election of Speaker, then the Party and President Akufo Addo would be consumed by the blazing democratic fire simmering.
Amorse Blessing Amos
Deputy Greater Accra Regional Youth Organizer
-NDC
citizenkorsi@gmail.com