Supreme Court Grants NDC’s Joinder Application

The Supreme Court has granted the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) application to be joined in the petition by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in which the opposition is questioning the integrity of the December 7 polls.

This ostensibly opens the way for the substantive matter to be heard by the Court.

The nine-member bench presided over by Justice William Atuguba, agreed to the argument raised by lawyers of the petitioners and granted the application in a 6-3 ruling.

The other judges are Justice Julius Ansah, Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira, Ms Justice Rose Owusu, Mr Justice Jones Dotse, Mr Justice Annin Yeboah, Mr P. Baffoe- Bonnie, Mr Justice N. S. Gbadegbe and Mrs Justice Vida Akoto-Bamfo.

The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2012 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; his running mate, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, and the Chairman of the NPP, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, are contesting the declaration of President Mahama as winner of the 2012 presidential poll.

Also joined to the petition is the Electoral Commission (EC), which presided over the poll.

The petitioners are accusing the EC of doctoring the results in favour of President Mahama, but the EC has denied the claims and described the election results as credible and accurate.

Following the filing of the petition on December 28, 2012, the NDC filed a motion for joinder on the grounds that it was an interested party in the case because the President stood for the election on its ticket.

Lawyers for the NDC argued before the panel of justices on Wednesday that President John Mahama did not contest the election as an Independent candidate for which reason the party must be allowed to join the case.

The party’s lead counsel, Tsatsu Tsikata, argued that once President Mahama’s integrity is being questioned, there is a need to join the party on whose platform he contested in the suit because the party’s integrity is also being indirectly impugned.

On Thursday, January 10, 2013, the court indefinitely adjourned the hearing of the application after lawyers for the petitioners objected to the composition of the nine-member panel presided over by Mr Justice William Atuguba.

However, lawyers for the petitioners withdrew their opposition to the panel on Friday, January 11, 2013, barely 24-hours after they had raised the objection, prompting the Supreme Court to fix the hearing of the NDC’s petition on January 16 (today).

Source: RADIO XYZ ONLINE

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Posted by admin on Jan 23 2013. Filed under Breaking News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry