One of the two people challenging the candidature of the aspiring Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle, Dr Zanetor Rawlings, has pulled out of the case which has taken a new turn.
Nii John Alfonso Coleman who together with incumbent MP for the area, Nii Armah Ashitey, sued Ms Zanetor over her eligibility to contest the November polls, announced the decision Friday when the case came up in court.
The decision, which was announced by a new lawyer for Mr Coleman, came as surprise to his previous counsel, Gary Nimako Marfo, who told the court that he was not informed of the decision prior to the proceedings, as well as a change of legal representation, Onua FM’s court correspondent, Lydia Ezit reports
Meanwhile, Mr Ashitey prayed the court Friday to strike out the name of the Electoral Commission from the suit following the disclosure by the Commission to the effect that Dr. Rawlings’ name is not in the biometric voters’ register.
The request was granted by the High Court hearing the case and the judge, Justice Kweku Boafo, has consequently asked Mr Ashitey to amend the suit to reflect the new changes, which will now have Dr Rawlings and the National Democratic Congress as the defendants, Lydia reports.
Lawyer fears for his life
At the previous sitting on March 3, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr Nimako Marfo wrote to the court to inform it that his life is in danger from some unknown persons due to the case he’s handling.
Gary Nimako Marfo in the letter stated that he “has in recent times been trailed by some unknown persons when driving home after close of work….they immediately drove off when counsel parked at the North Legon Police post to alert the police”
He added: “Counsel is in the process of arranging security back up to protect himself, his family and office staff,” and thus prayed the court to adjourn the case that was scheduled for hearing Thursday morning, to March 9 to enable him firm up the security arrangements he is putting in place.
Background
Incumbent Member of Parliament Nii Armah Ashietey who lost the Klottey Korle Constituency National Democratic Congress primary and Nii John Alfonso Coleman sued Ms Zanetor over her eligibility to contest the November polls.
The suit filed at an Accra High Court is also against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Electoral Commission (EC).
The two are praying the court to prevent the NDC and the EC from holding Dr Rawlings as 2016 parliamentary candidate for the Constituency.
According to the two, there were petitions filed against the daughter of Former President Jerry John Ralwings prior to the November 21 elections.
They claim her name was not even found in the biometric register compiled by the NDC prior to the primary.
Dr Rawlings last week secured victory in another court case filed by three members of the party in the Klottey Korle Constituency. The three wanted an annulment of the results but the Court asked them to exhaust all internal structures of resolution before coming to the court.
But in their writ to the High Court, Nii Armah Ashietey and Nii Alfonso Coleman accused national and regional officers of the NDC of complicity in “endorsing the violation of the NDC constitution and the rules governing the conduct of the parliamentary primaries in Klottey Korle thereby rendering any internal resolution of the matter an impossibility”.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|tv3network.com|Ghana
Twitter @steviekgh
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