Techiman South case: EC slapped with GH¢4,000 fine for breaching court processes

• NDC believes the NPP is devising tactics to delay the case

• This is part of the ongoing hearing of a case brought before the court by the NDC’s 2020 Techiman South candidate challenging the election of the current MP

A fine of GH¢4,000 has been slapped on the Electoral Commission of Ghana by the Wenchi High Court for refusing to grant an application to file a motion at the Court of Appeal.

This was after the court on Friday, July 30, 2021, refused to grant the notice of stay of proceedings filed by the counsel of the EC in the case brought to it by Christopher Beyere Baasongti, the National Democratic Congress parliamentary candidate in the 2020 elections, to challenge the ruling of the court during its previous sitting, reports graphic.com.gh.

During that sitting, the Wenchi High Court granted a motion of the petitioner to amend the title of writ but after the EC failed to grant the application, the fine of GH¢4,000 was slapped on the body.

The court has since adjourned the hearing of proceedings to Friday, October 14, 2021.

Justin Teriwajah, who is the counsel for the petitioner, argued in court that the application was frivolous and unnecessarily geared towards delaying the adjudication of the case, adding that even though counsel for Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Techiman South had earlier indicated that he would file a motion either in support or against the granting of the motion of the petitioner to change the title of the writ, he failed to do so.

He said that even without the blessing of the High Court, the Court of Appeal could have gone ahead to stay its proceedings ahead of any appeal that is filed before it by the EC, stating that the court acted within its jurisdiction.

But Emmanuel Addae, counsel for the EC, has justified that the stay of proceedings was to allow him to file some supplementary statements to support their application.

In his reaction, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the NDC, said that the New Patriotic Party was adopting new tactics in the case because it has realized that it has no case.

He added that while they proceeded to hear the writ, the EC could go-ahead to appeal its case at the Court of Appeal.

The NDC’s Christopher Baasongti filed a writ at the Wenchi High Court to challenge the declaration of the election of the MP for Techiman South, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsahin the December 2020 general election.