Incumbent Member of Parliament for the Klottey Korle Constituency is jubilating over the dismissal of a motion brought before the High Court by Dr Zanetor Rawlings.

Nii Armah Ashitey believes Tuesday's verdict is a prelude to the biggest court defeat awaiting Dr Rawlings in the NDC battle to bear the flag of Klottey Korley constituency in the 2016 elections.

The daughter of the ex-first family wanted the case challenging her election dismissed by the court. Her lawyers argued the case brought by the incumbent MP was premature and had to be thrown out.

But the court presided over by Justice Kweku Ackaah-Boafo disagreed insisting there is prima facie case to answer by Dr Rawlings. The court awarded cost of ¢2,500 against the respondents for wasting the court's time.

Background of case

Nii Armah Ashietey and Nii John Coleman, sued the National Democratic Congress (1^st Defendant), Dr. Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings (2^nd Defendant) and the Electoral Commission (3^rd Defendant) alleging that Dr Rawlings was not eligible to contest the Klottey Korle primaries held in November 2015, because she was not a registered voter with the Electoral Commission.

Article 43(9)(a) of the National Democratic Congress states

"A member shall not be qualified to contest primaries for any Parliamentary seat if he is disqualified under national electoral laws from contesting for any parliamentary seat."

As part of the guidelines issued by the NDC for its Parliamentary aspirants ahead of the 2016 elections stated that the person must 

"1. Be a card-bearing member of the party who has paid party membership dues"

Article 94 (1) (a) of the 1992 Constitution also states 

"(1) Subject to the provisions of this article, a person shall not be qualified to be a member of Parliament unless -

"(a) he is a citizen of Ghana, has attained the age of twenty-one years and is a registered voter.

Nii Armah Ashietey insists Dr Rawlings is not a registered voter and should not have been allowed to contest the primaries.

Nii Armah Ashietey

But on January 25, 2016, Counsel for the 2^nd Defendant, Lawyer Godwin Edudzie Tamakloe (supported by Ms. Sanja Morrison) filed an application requesting the Court to throw out the case brought by Nii Armah Ashietey.

Lawyer Edudzie among other things raised issues of capacity and forum against the plaintiff but the court insisted the plaintiff had the capacity to sue and was in the right court.

The judge then dismissed the application, describing it as misconceived and unmeritorious.  He said the application failed both on procedural grounds and on merits.

Shortly after the ruling Dr Rawlings filed another motion seeking to have the case thrown out, this time claiming the case was premature but the court accused Dr Zanetor of wasting the court's time with “frivolous motions”.

Speaking to Joy News after Tuesday's verdict, an excited Nii Armah Ashitey said the verdict is clear and incontrovertible but accused Dr Rawlings of trying to delay the case.

I am happy. If you come to court and you ask for something and you get it, you are happy. They have their strategy to delay the case so that when the EC opens registration she will go and register but that will not cure the defect.

He said the case is a done deal for him.

"At the time she went for the primaries she was not a registered voter. She should not have been allowed to contest. Now that the court is saying i have a case, what has to be proved now is whether she is a registered voter. But luckily the EC has already stated that she is not a registered voter," he stated.

But Dr Rawlings is not giving up just yet. She described the verdict as sound, but added she is rather concerned with dealing with the real life situations affecting her people.

"I think the judge made a sound decision and i am not here to challenge what the judge has said. We are going to be here again on the 4th [April] and we will see how things go," she said.