Ward-Brew goes to court to stop December polls
The disqualified presidential aspirant of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Mr Thomas Nuako Ward-Brew, has filed an application at the Supreme Court praying the apex court to order the Electoral Commission (EC) to postpone the December 7, 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
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He also wants the court to direct the EC to allow him to effect the necessary correction on his nomination forms to enable him to contest the polls.
According to Mr Ward-Brew, the postponement would give disqualified presidential aspirants, including him, ample time to campaign.
He is accordingly praying the Supreme Court to extend the period of time for the submission of nomination forms.
According to him, he was out of the jurisdiction when the Supreme Court, on November 7, 2017 extended the nomination period for disqualified aspirants, leading to the acceptance of four more presidential aspirants by the Electoral Commission (EC).
Currently, the EC has given the nod to seven presidential candidates to contest the election. Balloting has ended and the political parties and their presidential and parliamentary candidates, as well as an independent presidential candidate, are currently campaigning with their positions on the ballot paper.
But Mr Ward-Brew wants the Supreme Court to hear him and allow him to partake in the general election, with the explanation that he was in Nigeria when the apex court extended the nomination period.
Hearing of his application has been fixed for Wednesday, November 23, 2016.
Affidavit in support
An affidavit in support deposed to by Mr Ward-Brew, a legal practitioner, said his response to the EC over his disqualification was not replied to.
“The Electoral Commission should have used courier services to inform the affected aspirants concerning the Supreme Court order of November 7, 2016 to enable them to respond because that was their obligation instead of replying on radio announcements, expecting the affected candidates to comply and meet the limited time set out by the Supreme Court not taking into consideration distance and traffic issues in the city.
“This is an act of injustice on the candidates affected,” the affidavit in support indicated.
It said it appeared the EC used “self-imposed” delays and lack of expeditiousness as an excuse to put pressure on everybody so that they would be able to get away with their acts of injustice and mistakes to hold everybody to ransom.
It said the EC, being in charge of the electoral calendar, could have given six months or even more but waited until two months to elections to enable them to deny fairness to affected Ghanaians.
Mr Ward-Brew, accordingly, wants the court to grant his prayer.
Background
The Supreme Court, on November 7, 2016, directed the EC to give a fair hearing to all disqualified presidential aspirants.
It directed the EC to allow all the presidential aspirants who were able to submit their nomination papers by close of the nomination day of September 30, 2016 and were disqualified without a hearing to do so within the extended period.
The court, in its judgement, also extended the nomination period from Monday, November 7 to the close of working day, Tuesday, November 8,
