Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo says the Supreme Court is not obligated to sit during legal vacations.
This, she said, explains why an application for an Interlocutory Injunction against the Electoral Commission (EC) was fixed for the first week of the resumption of the legal year.
Justice Torkornoo stated that, per the rules of the court, with exception of the High Court, the superior courts – Supreme Court and Court of Appeal – do not sit during legal vacations.
She, however, indicated that the apex court may constitute only under special circumstances, either than that it does not sit during vacations.
“There are no rules for the Supreme Court to sit on vacations that is why the date was fixed for today which is the first working day after the legal vacation,” the CJ stressed.
Justice Mrs. Torkornoo made the statement after dismissing the application brought before it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and four other political parties to bar the EC from conducting the limited voter registration.
The other applicants were the Convention People’s Party (CPP), All People’s Congress (APC), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) and the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP).
Justice Torkornoo struck out the application with four other members of the bench, following failure on the part of the applicants and their lawyers to appear in court to move the application.
The rest of the panel members were Justice Baffoe Bonnie, Justice Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, Justice Ernest Gawu and Barbara Ayensu.
The suit was filed five days to the start of the exercise, scheduled for September 12 to October 2, 2023, to register eligible voters who had turned 18 years or were qualified during the previous exercise.
