The Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana, Charlotte Osei, may have complied with the electoral laws regarding the disqualification of some flag bearers ahead of the December 7 polls, however, it is also good for the aggrieved disqualified ones to test the electoral laws in the courts, Abraham Amaliba, a legal practitioner and member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said.
His comment follows the filing of a motion for an order for judicial review in the nature of a certiorari and probation by the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) against the EC’s decision to render ineligible the presidential nomination of its flag bearer, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom.
Joined to the suit as a respondent is Mrs Charlotte Osei – Chairperson of the (EC).
According to the motion, the applicant is seeking the court to “restrain the respondents from proceeding with balloting for a position of presidential candidates for 7 December 2016”.
The applicant is also requesting the court, through his counsel, Ayikoi Otoo, to direct the EC chair to grant him the opportunity to amend and alter the one anomaly found in his nomination papers as well as accept his nomination papers as amended or altered to enable him to contest as a presidential candidate in the upcoming elections.
But speaking in relation to this matter on TV3’s New Day on Saturday October 15, Mr Amaliba said Mrs Osei “did not pass the laws; she is only an enforcer of the law,” adding: “It is good that people are testing the laws.”
He was optimistic that the court would expedite hearing of the case in order not to delay the timetable for the general elections.
“In our jurisdiction, there is no way a court will delay a case so that on the 7th of January, we will get up one morning that day and there will not be a president. They will expedite action. Even if it means sitting everyday into the night, they will do it, and so that will not be a problem at all,” he said.
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