Parties in the suit against the Electoral Commission (EC) filed by Hassan Ayariga, presidential candidate of the All People’s Congress (APC), are asking for time to file their respective statements of case.
Lawyers for the parties offered one excuse after the other in a desperate attempt to convince the court as to why they could not file the documents as ordered (by the court) last week.
Thaddeus Sory, lawyer for the EC, stated that he had not been able to file the statements in view of the number of cases filed against the commission.
He said he was on Friday kept at the court in respect of the other cases and was hopeful to file it today.
Maxwell Kobina Loghan, lawyer for Ayariga, said he would file the original statement “in a matter of minutes.”
The lawyer appealed to the court to allow the parties to rely on their written statements, indicating that the court was also at liberty to take their submission orally.
The trial judge, Justice Barbra Tetteh-Charway, consequently adjourned hearing until today because she wanted to read the filed submissions of the parties.
She said the parties would then be required to clarify certain portions of the issues raised if need be.
Justice Tetteh-Charway said the court would then fix a date for ruling.
The parties were expected to make oral arguments after the high court last week had abridged the time suo motu, paving the way for the case to be heard yesterday.
The court had on Friday ordered both parties to file their statements of case.
Ayariga is praying the court to reverse the decision by the electoral body, headed by Charlotte Osei, disqualifying him from the presidential race.
The APC presidential hopeful contends that the EC has no power to disqualify him and as such, seeking the order of the court to compel the commission to accept his nomination forms and include his name in this year’s presidential ballot.
According to Ayariga, even if the EC had the power to disqualify him, “Its failure to adhere to due process was so unjust and perverted as to deprive the commission of its powers.”
He is therefore, seeking a declaration that the EC’s closure of the nomination period on October 10 without notifying the applicants of any outstanding issues, amounted in law to a representation to all candidates and the whole world that the applicant’s nomination forms were fully compliant with all requirements of the law and CI 94, among others.
Last week, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, sitting as a commercial court judge, quashed the decision by the EC to disqualify Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, presidential aspirant of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP). However, the EC has taken the case to the Supreme Court, praying for the quashing of the commercial court ruling.
A high court also dismissed an application for judicial review and enforcement of fundamental human rights filed against the EC by former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, founder and presidential aspirant of the National Democratic Party (NDP).
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson