NPP's SC suit to counter pending suits backing Mahama’s third-term eligibility – Nana B

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) decided to file a fresh suit at the Supreme Court over President John Dramani Mahama’s eligibility to contest the 2028 elections to counter arguments in pending cases seeking to establish that he can run for a third term, the party’s Second National Chairman, Henry Nana Boakye, has said.

Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, said the party decided to institute a separate action rather than seek to join an existing case brought by a pro-NDC group.

In a social media post on Thursday, October 29, he said the decision was informed by concerns that the arguments against a third presidential term might not be adequately presented before the court.

“For the record, there are already pending actions before the Supreme Court by some pro-NDC groups and also another from Ken Korankye seeking a declaration that President Mahama can actually contest for a 3rd term,” he stated.

Nana B said the NPP considered it politically dangerous to allow the existing cases to proceed without what he described as proper counterarguments on the interpretation of Article 66 of the 1992 Constitution.

He cited the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) case as a reason for the party’s decision, arguing that the Attorney-General’s position in that matter raised concerns about the need for civil society intervention to protect the institution.

According to him, the NPP did not want to risk having its application to join the pending action rejected at the court’s discretion.

“Consequently, the Party decided to institute a fresh action to properly put before the Supreme Court, a more cogent case against President Mahama contesting a 3rd term under Article 66,” he said.

The NPP is seeking an interpretation of the constitutional provisions governing presidential term limits, including whether the two-term restriction applies to consecutive and non-consecutive terms.

The party wants the Supreme Court to declare that a person cannot be elected President more than twice or serve more than two four-year terms in total, regardless of whether the terms follow one another.

Nana B stressed that filing this separate suit would allow the NPP to present its own legal arguments rather than depend on the Attorney-General or the Supreme Court justices to address the issues raised.