Court shoots down Zanetor Rawlings’s opponents
The Accra High Court yesterday dismissed an application filed by four Korle-Klottey Constituency executive of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) seeking an order to annul the election of Dr Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings as the parliamentary candidate of the party for the area.
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The court also refused to grant the plaintiffs’ application for an order to rerun the parliamentary primary since Dr Rawlings was “duly elected by the people”.
The court said the plaintiffs, Joseph Botchway, Jacob Amin, Alhaji Mohammed Mahmoud and Reverend Michael Kwabena Nii Adjei Sowah, lacked the capacity to institute the legal action in court.
Afterthought
Presided over by Mrs Patience Mills Tetteh, the court said the plaintiffs would not have their rights violated if the election of the eldest daughter of former President Jerry John Rawlings was left intact.
It explained that the procedures leading to the election of Dr Rawlings did not “happen in one day” and, therefore, considered the action of the four as “an afterthought”.
“The procedures of first defendant being endorsed as a parliamentary candidate, picking and submitting her nomination forms, exhibiting her pictures publicly and campaigning and facing the vetting committee did not happen in one day.
“So for the plaintiffs to come and twist the arms of the court to dismiss the results of the Korle-Klottey Constituency primary is an abuse of court processes.
“The plaintiffs should have been vigilant. This is not only a court of law but also a court of equity.
“It will be a waste of resources and time to dismiss the results of the Korle-Klottey primary and it will serve no purpose of the constituency,” the Presiding Judge explained.
It did not award any costs against the plaintiffs.
Joined to the action are the National Democratic Congress, Dr Rawlings and the Electoral Commission (EC) as the first, second and third defendants respectively.
Elated Zenator
Dr Zenator, who appeared in court in the company of her party sympathisers, lauded the court’s decision to dismiss the application against her.
“The people voted and chose who they wanted and it would have been a real travesty of justice if the court actually overturned the choice of the people. I am now happy the work still goes on,” she stated.
Claims
The plaintiffs had sought a declaration that the decision of the first defendant, the NDC, to allow Dr Rawlings to contest the parliamentary primaries in the Korle-Klottey Constituency when she was not a registered voter within the meaning of Article 94(1)(a) of the 1992 Constitution at the time of the contest was null and void.
That, they claimed, violated the Constitution and the internal regulations governing the conduct of parliamentary primaries of the NDC and same was illegal and of no effect.
They also wanted a declaration that Dr Rawlings’ election as a parliamentary candidate elect for the constituency was null and void and was of no effect as same violated the constitution of the NDC and the rules governing the conduct of the 2016 parliamentary primaries.
“An order of injunction restraining Dr Rawlings, her agents, privies, assigns or anyone holding herself or allowing herself to be held out by the other defendants as the parliamentary candidate elect for the Korle-Klottey Constituency until the matters in dispute were heard and disposed off by the court,” the claims said.
Argument against application
Making a case against the application, Dr Rawlings’ counsel, Mr Godwin Tamaklo, said the plaintiffs lacked the capacity to institute any legal action in court against the second defendant.
He said the plaintiffs had not, per their action before the court, shown that their interest had been violated or threatened to be violated and that they had no right to claim the reliefs they were seeking.
“The plaintiffs are just inviting this court to annul the result of the Korle-Klottey Constituency primary between the second defendant and two other male contestants.
“Their action before this court is premature because they did not exhaust the internal party grievance mechanisms of the NDC which is a party with structures,” he argued.
Argument for application
However, counsel for the plaintiffs, Mr Gary Nimako Marfo, said his clients were registered members of the NDC, whose biometric registration contained the faces and names of the plaintiffs as NDC members who had the capacity to raise issues that affected the interest of the party.
“The plaintiffs took part in the NDC parliamentary primary voting process and, therefore, it is illegal and remote for anyone to suggest that these persons who are members of the NDC in the Korle-Klottey Constituency have no interest in the outcome of the election and cannot come to this court.
He said prior to instituting the legal action, his clients petitioned the Greater Accra Regional executives of the NDC to have their grievances addressed but “the doors were shut on them, hence their decision to resort to the court for redress.”
Background
Dr Rawlings won the Korle-Klottey Parliamentary Primary of the NDC after garnering 2,403 votes to beat the incumbent Member of Parliament, Nii Armah Ashitey.
Her votes represented 62.22 per cent of the total votes cast.
Nii Ashitey polled 1,348 votes, representing 34.90 per cent of votes cast.
A third contestant, John Coleman, polled only 100 votes, representing 2.5 per cent of the votes.
However, Dr Rawlings's membership of the NDC has been the centre of discussions among party functionaries in the constituency from the very first day she made her desire to contest the primary public.
Writer’s email: [email protected]
Quick read
The application challenging the eligibility of Dr Zenator Agyeman Rawlings as the NDC parliamentary candidate for the Korle-Klottey Constituency was yesterday dismissed by the Accra High Court.
