Court dismisses case against Ahmed Arthur

An Accra High Court has dismissed the suit filed against the New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s parliamentary candidate for Okaikoi-South, Ahmed Arthur.

The suit, filed by Former Minister of state and legal advisor to ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, Vicky Bright, was on Tuesday declared null and void by the court.

Justice Daniel Mensah in his ruling stated that Mr Arthur had not committed fraud in his nomination form for both 2012 and 2016 primaries as claimed by Mrs Bright.

Mrs Bright had sought to annul the outcome of the Okaikoi South primaries arguing that the Member of Parliament (MP)'s nomination form had wrong information concerning the program he pursued at the Ghana Institute of Journalism .

A claim she stated had been upheld by the party's National Executive Committee (NEC).

Mrs Bright had also questioned the voters register used to organize the primaries at which Mr Arthur was elected parliamentary candidate.

Mr Arthur had argued that following his disqualification by the NEC for supplying wrong information, he subsequently appealed the ruling to the National Council and had a ruling in his favour.

The National Council thereby ordered a re-run of the primaries.

Although he admitted that he wrongly stated his course of study, he explained that it was because he didn’t have access to his certificate at the time he was filling his nomination forms.

In Justice Mensah’s ruling Tuesday, he said the matter should have been heard at the constituency level before being referred to NEC.

He said both the NEC and National Council had erred, “but the crust of the matter is whether Mr Arthur had supplied wrong information with the aim of gaining an undue advantage."

In a response to the claims made by Mrs Bright on the voters register, Justice Mensah stated that the same register was used in the election of flagbearer of the party, therefore he saw nothing wrong with that.

Speaking to Joy News after the ruling, the MP for Okaikoi-South said he feels vindicated by the ruling.

He called on all party members of the constituency to join his re-election bid as well as ensure that the party’s presidential candidate is elected as president in the December polls.