NPP protests composition of Supreme Court; case adjourned

The Supreme Court has adjourned sine die the hearing of the preliminary joinder motion filed by the NDC seeking to join the petition by the NPP challenging the election results.

The case was adjourned after the lawyers for the New Patriotic Party protested the composition of the court. They argued that the composition of the court, presided over by Justice Atuguba, is skewed against them. There are nine Supreme Court judges sitting on the case. NPP is expected to file a motion to state their case.

The NDC says it wants to join the suit because it provided the platform for President Mahama to contest the just ended elections which he won.

The party filed a supplementary affidavit to its motion to join a petition by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, his running mate, and Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, challenging the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as winner of the December 2012 presidential election.

The supplementary affidavit, which was filed on Wednesday and deposed to on behalf of the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, said, "A denial of the applicant the opportunity to be joined so as to be heard in respect of this election would be a denial of the constitutional rights of the applicant."

According to the supplementary affidavit, the NDC had represented its interest, that of its presidential candidate and parliamentary candidates "in the deliberations of the Electoral Commission (EC) with all political parties and candidates in connection with the elections" and, for that reason, the party had the right to be joined to the petition.