The trademark of incompetence by EC was played out in court – Amaliba

Member of the legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba, has lambasted the Electoral Commission over what he says was the exhibition of incompetence during proceedings in court today.

The NDC applied for a motion for an amendment of the petition filed by its Flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, to correct some errors in the previous process.

The first petition indicated that the initial application was for a rerun between the NDC candidate and the 1st Respondent – the Electoral Commission.

However, there was opposition from the legal team of the EC, led by Justin Amenuvor. They sought to argue that the application for amendment made reference to a writ and not a petition.

Following some minutes of deliberations, the judges granted the amendment but stated that the corrected document must be presented at the court’s registry by 4pm on Thursday, January 14, 2021.

Amaliba, who was unhappy about the move by the EC’s lawyers, said in an interview with the media, that the Legal Counsel of the EC made an erroneous statement by suggesting that, the motion for amendment was referring to a writ instead of the petition whereas it was clearly stated by the NDC in their document

“….We moved the motion this morning, and there were some oppositions from the EC, and we need to understand that the trademark incompetence of the EC was played out again in this court. The EC opposed the amendment on the basis that the amendment was making references to the writ when the face of the document that had been filed is a petition. That affidavit by the EC was sworn to by Jean Mensa…”

On whether his side will be able to meet the deadline as ordered by the court, he stated that “We have attached a proposal of the amendment so all we need to do is to go out there and file it with the Supreme Court. This is something we have already done so it’s left for us to file.

Meanwhile, the Legal Representative for John Mahama was led by Tsatsu Tsikata.

The case was presided over by a seven-member panel of judges headed by the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah. The other members were Gertrude Torkornoo, Samuel Marful-Sau, Nii Ashie Kotey, Mariama Owusu, Yaw Appau and Nene Abayateye Ofoe Amegatcher.

The case has been adjourned to Tuesday, January 19, 2021, for a pre-trial.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com