Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings
Former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings is back in court in a second attempt to reverse her disqualification from the 2016 presidential election by the Electoral Commission (EC).
The court, presided over by Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, has ordered parties in the case to file their respective affidavits on Thursday, November 3, followed by oral presentations on Friday.
The judge was compelled to adjourn the case because Thaddeus Sory, the EC’s lawyer, was not in court when the case was due for hearing.
He was before another high court in a suit brought against the commission by Hassan Ayariga, the presidential candidate of the All People’s Congress (APC).
It is unclear whether the former first lady will be lucky this time round following her defeat last week.
She is among 12 others dropped by the EC on the basis of some purported irregularities on the face of their nomination forms for the presidential election in December.
Kick Out
A court presided over by Justice George K. Koomson on Thursday dismissed an application for judicial review and enforcement of fundamental human rights filed against the EC by Nana Konadu.
The court had wondered why lawyers for Mrs. Rawlings would join the case involving the enforcement of her fundamental human rights and that of judicial review.
He said when a case is improperly laid before the court, it denies it the power to invoke its jurisdiction.
Justice Koomson said on matters of processes, there could be no compromise.
Unsatisfied with the ruling of the court, Mrs. Rawlings, through her lawyers, filed a fresh suit against the EC.
Reliefs
In the instant case, the applicant is seeking an “interlocutory injunction, prohibiting and restraining” the EC and its agents from going ahead with the balloting for positions on the ballot paper until the court settles the matter.
The applicant is seeking a declaration that the decision of the EC to close the nomination of presidential candidates on September 30, 2016 was wrong.
The lawyers believe the rejection of Nana Konadu’s nomination papers on the basis of an error and the EC’s failure to afford her the opportunity to correct whatever wrong on the papers was a breach of her rights under Article 23 of the 1992 Constitution.
She also wants a declaration from the court that pursuant to Regulation 9 of CI 94, the EC should have informed and afforded her the opportunity to make the necessary amendments when it determined that “the particulars of a person subscribing to her nomination forms were not required by law.’’
In a related development, the NDP in a statement signed by Mohammed Frimpong and issued in Accra yesterday reiterating the orders of the court, urged its supporters to believe in the judiciary.
“We wish to continue to assure our supporters that we believe in the justice and strength of our case and are convinced that in the final analysis the truth will be made evident,” the statement indicated.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson