VALENTINE EDEM DZATSE v. MR HENRY AMETEFE AND OTHERS

PWAMANG, JSC:-

This case is a reference by the High Court, Ho of a question involving the enforcement

and interpretation of the Constitution, 1992 that arose on the face of the processes filed

in Suit No. E12/09/2020 pending in that court. We have examined the case stated in

the reference by the trial judge and considered the documents attached to it and are of

the view that the appropriate question that has to be answered in this reference is

whether or not C.I. 95 which is the subsisting legislation that delimits constituency

boundaries in Ghana is inconsistent with Article 47(2) of the Constitution, 1992 by

virtue of C.I. 112 which contains the boundaries of the newly created Oti Region, to the

extent that C.I. 95 provides that the traditional areas of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lipke and

Lolobi all in the Oti Region are part of the Hohoe Constituency in the Volta Region of

Ghana and therefore to the extent of that inconsistency is unconstitutional. We do not

find the reference in the case stated to CI 119 which delimits District Assemblies and

Electoral Areas boundaries relevant to a resolution of the real issue arising before the

High Court, so we shall not consider it.

At the hearing of the case in this court the plaintiff submitted that the answer to the

question posed above should be in the affirmative. His reason is that under Article 47(2)

no constituency is allowed to straddle two regions but by the provisions of CI 95 made

in 2016, the Hohoe Constituency falls partly within the Volta Region and partly within

the Oti Region that was created by CI 112 made by the president pursuant to Article 5

of the Constitution in 2019.

The 1st to 4th defendants on the other hand submitted that as CI 95 was in existence

and in force before C.I.112 was made by the president, the president in making C.I.

112 ought to have acted in conformity with it by ensuring that the traditional areas of

Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lipke and Lolobi which at the time were part of the Hohoe

Constituency remain part of the Hohoe Constituency, and the Volta Region for that

matter, in order not to breach Article 47(2) of the Constitution. The effect of this

argument is that Article 47(2) constitutes a limitation on the power of the president in

the creation of new regions and it ought to take precedence over Article 5 of the

Constitution.

The Electoral Commission on its part agreed in substance with the position taken by the

plaintiffs and submitted that since CI 1