NDC Parliamentary aspirant woes deepen as court dismisses case against EC
A High Court has thrown out the case of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary aspirant for Cape Coast North, Kwamena Minta Nyarku, who is challenging the legality of an Electoral Commission Committee to withdraw his voter ID card on grounds of fraud.
The court upheld the position of the Committee, which found that Mr Nyarku, a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that he was indeed a residence of the address he provided when he registered for his voter ID card.
It was the view of the court that the panel was qualified to adjudicate the case and determine whether the NDC aspiring legislator told the truth about his place of abode.
Ghana’s electoral laws require that Parliamentary aspirants reside in their electoral areas at least four years before the election.
During the sitting, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) applied to join the case.
The first respondent, Daniel Arthur, who filed the challenge against Mr Nyarku, argued that the residential address which the appellant, Kwamena Mintah Nyarku provided on his day of registration could not be ascertained as truth. According to him, the appellant does not own the place of residence as he claimed during the registration, ATL News reported.
But counsel for the embattled aspirant, Edudzi Tamakloe downplayed those claims, saying that his clients’ two places of residence fall within the Electoral Area where he went for the registration.
He further argued that the Committee upon their decision never allowed his client to respond to the allegations levelled against him.
Mr. Tamakloe also added that the Commission’s End of Day’s Report at the registration centre in question at Nkafoa, a suburb of Cape Coast, does not even indicate that Mr. Mintah Nyarku was challenged on the said day of his registration.
The court, however, gave August 25 to give full details of its ruling which effectively ends the parliamentary dreams of the Mr Nyarku unless a higher court overturns the decision.
The Electoral Commission (EC) on July 13 withdrew the voter’s ID card of the National Democratic Congress Cape Coast North parliamentary aspirant, Kwamena Minta Nyarku.
He was alleged to have provided false information to the EC when he applied for the card.
The withdrawal by extension affects his candidature as a parliamentary aspirant when the EC opens nomination because per Ghana’s electoral laws, a non-registered voter cannot vie for elections.
According to reports, Mr Nyarku provided his house address, he pointed to a building where he stayed, but when he was challenged and appeared before the committee, he could not substantiate it”
His card was given him after registration, but he was recalled to submit it after someone challenged it.
The EC panel visited the house he stated as his residence and after the sitting, he was found guilty.
In breach of the law, he is supposed to pay 500 penalty unit and default go to prison for two years.
But Mr Nyarku appealed the decision, which dismissed by the court presided over by Justice Patience Mills Tetteh.
The Cape Coast North Constituency was carved out of the Cape Coast South in 2012. It was a constituency dominated by the NPP from 1996 to 2008 when the NDC snatched it.
But the newly created Cape Coast North has become a swing constituency.
2016
| BARBARA ASHER AYISINPP | 19,475 | 49.78% |
| KWABENA OWUSU AKYEAMPONG (NDC) | 16,309 | 41.69% |
| SARAH MARY BUCKNOR MRS (PPP) | 3,251 | 8.31% |
| PETER CAESAR KWEGYIR AGGREY (CPP) | 88 | 0.2 |
2012
| EBO BARTON-ODURO (NDC) | 21,189 | 51.53% |
| DR MRS HENRIETTA ABANE (NPP) | 19,558 | 47.56% |
| SARAH MARY BUCKNOR MRS (PPP) | 376 | 0.91 |