HO COURT DISMISSES ELECTORAL MALPRACTICE CASE (PAGE 13, JUNE 18, 2010)

The Ho High Court presided over by Justice Kofi Essel Mensah has dismissed an electoral dispute in which Dr Joseph Manboah-Rockson is praying the court to nullify the results of the 2008 parliamentary elections at Nkwanta North Constituency in the Volta Region which declared Mr Joseph Kwaku Nayan as the winner.
Dr Manboah-Rockson who stood on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) attributed his defeat to corrupt practices by his rival, Nayan, who contested for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and prayed for certain reliefs from the court.
The prosecution said Nayan, who was re-elected as the Member of Parliament during the parliamentary election in December 2008, engaged in corrupt electoral malpractices by paying money to voters in seven polling stations to induce them to vote for him and engaged in improper acts in the supervision of the election.
In dismissing the application, Justice Essel Mensah observed that electoral disputes were of extreme national importance and needed to be dealt with expeditiously to prevent unnecessary post-election tension and conflict, adding that there was the need to ensure that Parliament was well composed by the accredited representation of the citizenry.
He noted that when the case was first brought before the court, it was struck out on October 17, 2009 for lack of support. Then on November 17, 2009 another motion was filed by the applicant but it was opposed by the respondents on the grounds that it was brought beyond the 14 days prescribed for such cases, so on January 29, 2010, the application was dismissed.
According to the Justice Essel Mensah, after the dismissal of the case “ the applicants went to sleep for nearly one month and now that they have awoken from their slumber have brought the application which has also delayed for 25 days far beyond the 14 days statutory period”.
He added that the case demanded that the court’s inherent power to prevent the abuse of its processes must be applied in the case, the merit of the case notwithstanding, adding that “ the applicant’s conduct generally, coupled with his misuse of the rules of the court amounts to gross abuse of the legal processes and seriously undermines the bona fides”.