Ward Brew
The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously dismissed the suit filed by Thomas Nuako Ward Brew, flag bearer of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), against the Electoral Commission (EC).
He was praying the court to suspend the December 7 general election.
The seven-member panel of judges presided over by Justice Sophia Adinyira, stated that the suit lacked merit both in form and substance.
According to the court, the proceedings for which the applicant was in court had been disposed of on November 7, 2016, indicating that the court’s original jurisdiction could not be properly invoked in the instant case before it again.
The judges indicated that Mr. Ward-Brew’s claim that he was in Nigeria during the extension ordered by the apex court for the filing of nomination forms was frivolous and of no substance.
One Man Show
The court reasoned that the DPP is not a one-man party and that other executives could have submitted the forms on his behalf as per CI 94 which states that any member of the party could submit the nomination forms.
In the view of the court, the senior lawyer cum politician was not vigilant when filing the nomination forms.
The court as a result, dismissed the case, awarding a cost of GH¢3,000 against the DPP presidential hopeful.
Earlier, the court had initially wanted to strike out the case on grounds of procedural errors.
Mr. Ward-Brew’s error was that the title on his motion was different from that on his affidavit.
However, the lawyer’s plea to the judges to be heard was considered, stressing that the court must consider the substance of the suit and not the errors.
Mr. Brew argued that at the time the Supreme Court order to the EC to extend the nomination period for disqualified presidential aspirants to amend their forms, he was out of the jurisdiction and therefore did not get the opportunity to correct his errors.
He was therefore, praying the court to order the EC to allow him to correct the errors to enable him participate in the December 7 presidential election.
Speaking to journalists after the ruling, Mr. Ward-Brew did not drop any hint of further litigation.
He said he believed the court was fair in its judgement, indicative of the fact that he would not seek a review of the decision.
DPP Out
The EC had said in October that it was unable to accept Mr. Ward-Brew’s nomination as the forms were improperly completed and the candidate’s particulars were not provided.
Charlotte Osei, EC Chairman, stated in Accra that the commission noticed “the Voter ID number of the vice presidential candidate has not been provided and so the commission is unable to ascertain whether the vice presidential candidate is a registered voter and eligible to stand as a candidate for that office.”
The commission stated, “Despite requesting candidates to obtain 432 signatures endorsing their presidential nomination forms the number of subscribers to Mr. Ward-Brew’s forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94.”
The commission said there were no signatures for subscribers, signatures of two subscribers (Isaac Dusi & Kofi Kuma) were identical and that raised questions about the legitimacy of the two signatures.
The EC said the same subscriber – Kumbung Dosetu – endorsed the nomination forms in two different districts (Lawra and Nandom) with two different signatures, raising issues again on the legitimacy of both signatures.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com