The Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Lawyer Abraham Amaliba, has said the Bolgatanga High Court ruling has contradicted the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year on the 2020 election petition where the apex court said it cannot force the EC to mount the witness box.
According to Lawyer Amaliba, the ongoing election petition on the Pusiga Constituency seat and that of the 2020 election petition held at the Supreme Court are similar.
“That ruling against the EC flies in the face of the Supreme Court ruling, which said that you cannot force a party to mount the witness box. The case is similar to the Supreme Court because Jean Mensah said she will not mount the witness box, it is same thing the EC in Bolga said, so is the same thing,” he explained.”
Lawyer Amaliba also hinted that the EC may appeal the High Court ruling saying “my understanding is that the EC will be appealing the ruling of the court and cite the supreme court ruling as the basis of that”
The Bolgatanga High Court yesterday ordered the Electoral Commission of Ghana to mount the witness box to testify in the ongoing election petition on the Pusiga constituency seat.
The court presided over by His Lordship, Charles Wilson Adjei in delivering his judgment said, though the electoral commission was an independent body it does not remove it from the ambit of article 99 clause 1 of the 1992 constitution and section 16 of the PNDC law 284 of the representation of the people’s act 1992.
Therefore, the EC must necessarily state the alleged irregularities in some five cited polling stations in the pusiga constituency.
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure| Ghana|
