The High Court in Accra has dismissed an application for an interlocutory injunction from disqualified Independent candidate, Samuel Appea-Danquah, who was seeking his inclusion on the ballot papers for the December 7 presidential elections.
The basis for the Court’s refusal of the application was “the identification of falsification and forgeries” on the part of the applicant.
The presiding judge, Justice George Ampiah-Bonney, while dismissing the application, also stated that the actions “constitute gross illegalities.”
Samuel Appea-Danquah, one of the 11 candidates disqualified by the Electoral Commission (EC), went to court on October 10, 2024, seeking certiorari and mandamus to quash the EC’s directive to disqualify him.
Subsequently, he filed an application for an injunction to stop the EC from taking any further actions related to the elections and to be allowed time to correct the anomalies identified.
He bolstered his claims by asserting that some political parties who were allowed on the ballot were given special treatment, including being granted extensions beyond the normal deadline, and therefore, he deserved similar consideration.
However, the EC, through its lawyers led by Justin Amenuvor, opposed the request and accused the applicant of sitting at home and forging signatures of witnesses who had endorsed his nomination forms.
Counsel for the EC stated that this conduct was unacceptable and formed the basis for his disqualification from the December 2024 race.
Ruling on the application on Thursday, November 14, 2024, Justice George Ampiah-Bonney, after considering all submissions, reviewing the evidence, and having an ocular inspection of the original exhibit from the EC, agreed that the applicant engaged in falsification and forgeries, which “constitute gross illegalities.”
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, who was present in court, reports that lead counsel for the EC, Justin Amenuvor, and Martin Kpebu, the lawyer for Samuel Appea-Danquah, clashed as EC lawyers asked for costs.
