Zanetor’s lawyer delighted with Supreme Court clearance

The lawyer for Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings has welcomed the Supreme Court ruling in their favour paving the way for his client to continue her campaign ahead of the 2016 parliamentary election.

Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings was cleared by the Supreme Court on Monday, July 18 to hold herself out as the parliamentary nominee of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the forthcoming general elections.

The Supreme Court also directed the High Court to deliver a ruling in that regard because an individual can only be a candidate after the Electoral Commission (EC) has opened the opportunity for filing. The apex court, therefore, said since the EC was yet to take that action, the argument of Dr. Rawlings not being eligible did not hold water.

Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings defeated incumbent MP Nii Armah Ashitey in the party’s parliamentary primary in November last year.

Unsatisfied with the results, Mr. Ashitey resorted to court to challenge the eligibility of Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings to have stood for the contest arguing that she was not a registered voter at the time of the primaries.

Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings subsequently got registered as a voter during the Electoral Commission’s limited voter registration exercise a few months ago.

Mr. Godwin Edudzi Tamekloe, who spoke in an interview shortly after the verdict, indicated that his client was “pleased and humbled by the 4-1 majority decision by the Supreme Court ruling”.

“She will just go ahead with her campaign to win the seat for the NDC,” he added.

With the green light given by the Supreme Court on Monday, July 18, Dr. Agyeman-Rawlings, daughter of former President Jerry John Rawlings, is set for a duel with Mr. Philip Addison, the candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).