Legal battle between Ashitey, Zanetor over
The legal battle between the Member of Parliament (MP) for Korley Klottey, Nii Armah Ashitey, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the constituency, Dr Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings, has finally come to an end as the MP last Wednesday withdrew the case from the Accra High Court.
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In a notice filed by his legal team at the court registry last Wednesday, the legislator informed the court about his decision to discontinue the suit.
“Take notice that the plaintiff herein has discontinued the suit against the defendants,’’ the notice said.
Lawyer for the MP, Mr Gary Nimako Marfo, also confirmed the development to the Daily Graphic.
He, however, did not reveal what informed the MP to discontinue with the case.
“He has decided to discontinue with the case but the reasons are personal,’’ he said.
Suit
Nii Ashitey dragged the NDC and Dr Rawlings to court claiming that she was not a registered voter when she was elected as the parliamentary nominee.
He claimed that her election violated the NDC’s constitution and, therefore, it was null, void and of no effect.
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His legal team was seeking the court to declare her election null and void and order a rerun between him and another contender in the election, Nii John Coleman.
Legal wrangling
The case, which was initiated at the High Court, travelled all the way to the Supreme Court.
This was after Dr Rawlings had filed an application for certiorari at the Supreme Court, claiming that the High Court had no jurisdiction to hear the case because the bone of contention was a constitutional provision which required an interpretation from the highest court of the land.
On May 19, 2016, the court, presided over by Mr Justice William Atuguba, in a 4-1 majority decision, upheld Dr Rawlings’s application and stayed proceedings of the case at the High Court on the grounds that the court erred in law by interpreting Article 94 Clause 1(a) of the 1992 Constitution.
Not satisfied with the decision, Nii Ashitey filed an application for review of the ruling.
The court on June 16, 2016, however, struck out the application after Nii Ashitey’s legal team withdrew it.
Interpretation
The case culminated at the apex court on July 18, 2016 when the court gave the green light for Dr Rawlings to contest the seat by interpreting the contentious constitutional provision.
The court, in a 4-1 majority decision, held that the constitutional provision that enjoins one to be a registered voter before contesting as a Member of Parliament (MP) takes effect when the Electoral Commission (EC) opens nominations for people to contest public elections.
The court further ordered the High Court hearing the suit against Dr Rawlings to determine the case based on the interpretation that it had given.