[ 2016-05-03 ]

Zanetor wants High Court judge removed from hearing her case
NDC parliamentary nominee for Klottey Korle, Dr
Zanetor Rawlings wants the Supreme Court to bar
High Court judge Ackah-Boafo from hearing a case
contesting her candidature.

According to Dr Zanetor's lawyer, Godwin Tamakloe,
the judge erred in law when he wrongly assumed
jurisdiction to interpret Article 94(1)(a) of the
Constitution.

The judge had ruled that once Dr. Zanetor had put
herself up as a contestant, she was caught by
Article 94(1)(a) which required that she must be a
registered voter at the time of her participation
in the parliamentary primaries last November.

The function of interpretation of the Constitution
is a Supreme Court responsibility that should not
have been exercised by the High Court judge, the
embattled nominee's lawyers argue.

Nii Armah Ashietey, the incumbent Member of
Parliament who lost to Dr. Rawlings last year went
to court in January, challenging Zanetor's
eligibility to participate in the November 11,
2015 primaries citing constitutional breaches.

According to Mr. Ashitey, Dr. Zanetor Rawlings did
not qualify to be elected as the parliamentary
nominee since at the time of the contest she was
not a registered voter in the country.

Dr. Rawlings, however, registered last week
Thursday after the Electoral Commission began a
limited voter registration exercise.

With the case still pending at the High Court, Dr.
Rawlings ran to the Supreme Court in February to
ask it to stop the High Court judge from
continuing with the case.

She says the High Court had on two occasions
dismissed applications brought by her lawyers
asking that the case be thrown out and on the
second occasion awarded cost against her.

But running to the defence of the High Court
judge, counsel for Nii Armah Ashitey, Gary Nimako
said the judge did no wrong in his ruling.

Mr. Nimako has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss
the application by Dr. Zanetor. To him, it was
just another ploy to waste the court's time.

The court has adjourned the case to April 19 for
its ruling.

Source - Myjoyonline.com

... go Back