Nduom Invades Court with Bus Loads of Supporters

By Pascal Kafu Abotsi
The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) yesterday made its first appearance in court with bus loads of supporters clad in party paraphernalia, ostensibly to demonstrate the party’s appetite to contest this year’s elections.

There was information that hundreds of  party supporters that thronged the courts were drawn from various parts of the country to give some inspiration to the legal team to fight for the inclusion of their presidential candidate, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, on this year’s ballot.

According to Accra-based Joy FM, the hearing of the suit, challenging Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom’s disqualification began with Lawyer for the Electoral Commission (EC), Thaddeus Sory, moving a motion for abridgment of time so that the matter could be heard as early as possible.

Lawyer Sory argued that the EC needed to print ballot papers and other Electoral materials so they wanted`the matter to be heard as early as possible.

Ayikoi Otoo, who is legal counsel for Dr. Nduom, did not oppose this motion but rather said they needed the opportunity to respond to some issues the EC had mentioned in their affidavit, in opposition to their suit.

The Accra High Court, hearing the case, thus ordered the PPP Flagbearer to file his statement of case in support of his suit, challenging his disqualification by the EC.

The Electoral Commission was asked to do same, leading to a Monday deadline by the court, as the parties would be expected to make their oral submission on Tuesday, where the court would have a week to give its ruling.

Speaking to journalists after the court session, Lawyer Ayikoi Otoo was emphatic that the EC had erred in disqualifying Dr. Nduom.

According to him: “The EC breached its own rules which imposed a duty on them to give candidates an opportunity to make amendments and alterations,” adding that: “The issue of breach of the rules of natural justice is so fundamental that everyone should be given a hearing before being condemned.

“Even under common law, you can always go to court and say that -'I have been dismissed from work and they never gave me an opportunity to be heard.'”

Dr Nduom’s disqualification by the EC followed the endorsement of his nomination forms by one Richard Antwi Aseda, with the voter identification number -7812003957- guarantee both the Central and Volta Regions, using two different signatures, an act that contradicts the laws governing elections in Ghana.

The PPP had earlier challenged the EC's quoted filing fee of GHc50,000 in the court of law, but that action did not survive.

After it had claimed the filing fee was “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable”, the PPP, which was fielded in the 2012 elections presented its forms together with a bankers' draft of GHc50,000 cedis, hoping for its return, just as was done for the other contestants, only for it to be surprisingly snatched by the EC.

This happened at a time the electoral body had rejected the fees of the other candidates, pending the court's determination of the case.

The court, however, asked the EC to go ahead with the collection of its fee, compelling the chairperson to put out information to candidates to present their bankers' drafts.

With barely two months to the elections, Dr Nduom, popularly called 'Adwumawura',  is rumoured to have invested millions of cedis in his campaign, with some spent on a fleet of Toyota Tundra vehicles and other luxurious cars flooding the streets, while he slashed the rest on party activities, hoping for a win.