Prime News Ghana

Ward Brew’s 'frivolous' suit against EC thrown out

By Jeffrey Owusu-Mensah
DPP flagbearer T.N. Ward-Brew
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The suit brought against the Electoral Commission by flagbearer of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Thomas Nuako Ward-Brew seeking the Supreme Court to order for the postponement of the December 7, 2016, presidential and parliamentary elections has been dismissed as frivolous.

Mr Ward-Brew, one of the thirteen aspirants disqualified by the EC from contesting the presidential election on Monday filed a suit in the Supreme Court seeking to suspend the polls.

The EC had initially rejected their nominations citing various errors on their forms which breached some electoral laws leaving only the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, National Democratic Congress' (NDC) John Mahama, the Convention People's Party's (CPP) Ivor Kobina Greenstreet and independent candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah as the only presidential candidates for the elections.

 

While some of the affected aspirants including the Progressive People's Party's (PPP) Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, National Democratic Party's (NDP) Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the People's National Convention's (PNC) Dr Edward Mahama and the All People's Congress' Hassan Ayariga took the matter to the Accra High Court seeking to be reinstated, nothing was heard from many of the other parties.

The EC, after the High Court had ordered them to allow Dr Nduom correct the errors cited for his disqualification because he had not been offered the opportunity before, went to the Supreme Court to get a better interpretation and bring finality to the numerous litigations concerning the disqualifications.

The apex court, however, upheld the lower court's decision and further ordered the EC to extend the nomination period by one day for all parties to effect corrections cited for their disqualifications which it did with Dr Nduom, Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings and Dr Mahama scaling through to get back on the ballot.

In his  surprising suit, Mr Ward-Brew is praying the court to put the election on hold in order to allow him correct the errors on his nominations forms that led to his disqualification from the presidential race because he was not around at the time of his disqualification and the time of extended nomination period.

But in a ruling on Wednesday, the seven-panel member of justices presided over by Sophia Adinyira stated that his reason of being in Nigeria during the extended nomination period was frivolous and thus struck it out as lacking merit in both form and substance.

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