THE Supreme Court has by a unanimous decision quashed the decision of the Sunyani High Court which upheld a petition that sought to restrain the Electoral Commission (EC) from declaring the winner of the Asutifi South parliamentary election held on December 7, 2008.

The court, presided over by Justice William Atuguba, yesterday, further prohibited the Sunyani High Court judge, Justice Opoku, from hearing the matter and ordered that all proceedings in connection to the case be forwarded to the Supreme Court to be quashed.

Other members of the panel were Justice Sophia Akuffo, Justice Date-Bah, Mrs. Justice Rose Owusu and Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie.

The court noted that the petition, filed at the Sunyani High Court by the aggrieved New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Asutifi South Constituency in the 2008 General election, Mr. Yiadom Boakye-Boateng, was premature and, therefore, lacked the jurisdiction to determine the merit of the case brought before it.

A cost of GH¢1000.00 was awarded in favour of Alhaji Collins Dauda, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the constituency, who filed a petition to the court, invoking the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to quash the decision of the Sunyani High Court.

According to the court, election petition can only be brought when an election result is declared, stressing that in the case where the result is not declared, it constituted an incomplete election.

It was further the view of the court that election petitions are filed within the stipulated period of 21 days after the election result had been gazetted, and where the petition borders on a corrupt and illegal practice of a party to the dispute, the petition should be brought 21 days after the alleged act.

In view of the ruling of the Supreme Court, the EC has in effect provided the leeway to declare the winner of the Asutifi South parliamentary election, held on December 7, 2008.

The High Court, on January 6, 2009, ruled that an application for injunction filed by the NPP parliamentary candidate for Asutifi South in the 2008 election, Mr. Yiadom Boakye-Boateng, seeking to restrain the EC from declaring the winner of the Asutifi South constituency parliamentary election had been properly laid before it.

Alhaji Dauda and the EC had filed a motion praying the High Court to dismiss the petition, arguing that it was not properly laid before it on the grounds that it should have been filed 21 days after and not before the declaration of the winner of the election.

In view of the failure of the High Court to endorse Alhaji Dauda's opposition to the petition, the latter filed an application for an order of 'certiorari' requesting the Supreme Court to quash the decision of the High Court to hear the petition which sought to restrain the EC from embarking on its constitutional mandate.

Mr. Samuel Codjoe, counsel for Alhaji Dauda, who is now the Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, had argued before the Supreme Court that the High Court judge erred and exceeded his jurisdiction, when on his own, he amended Section 18 (2) of PNDC Law 284, by ruling that the payment of a deposit was not necessary for a petition to be heard.

Section 18 (2) of PNDC Law 284 states that "the presentation of an election petition under sub-section (1) shall not be valid unless, within the time specified in subsection (1), the petitioner gives ¢20,000 as security for costs".

Section 18 (1) of the law states that "an election petition shall be presented within twenty-one days after the date of the publication in the Gazette of the result of the election to which it relates, except that a petition questioning an election on an allegation of corrupt practices and specifically alleging a payment of money or to have been made by the person whose election is questioned, or to have been made on his behalf to his knowledge, may be presented within twenty-one days after the date of the alleged payment".

According to counsel, the ruling by the court was improper and ought to be quashed by the highest court of the land. Mr. Codjoe opined that Mr. Boakye-Boateng should have waited for the election results to be published in the Gazette before commencing the action at the High Court, as directed in Section 18 (1) of PNDC Law 284.

Opposing the application, counsel for the respondent, Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey (retd), had told the court that the law allows an election petition to be heard before the 21-day period, especially when there was an allegation of corrupt practice.

According to him, the NPP's polling agent was the first to sign the results but that paper disappeared.

The court queried him as to whether the petition had been properly laid in conformity with Section 18 (1) of PNDC Law 284, which said a person must be elected before a petition could be filed.

Captain Effah-Dartey argued that it had been properly laid, but one of the panel members, Mrs. Justice Owusu, asked him whether or not he was interpreting the law to suit his client's interests. Counsel maintained his stance.

Replying, counsel for the EC, Mr. James Quarshie-Idun, had informed the court that the EC filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging the High Court's ruling, as well as an application for stay of proceedings at the High Court.

He held that the position of the EC was for it to be allowed to complete its work before any petition was filed.

According to him, the Court of Appeal had since adjourned the case 'sine die', awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court.

A Principal State-Attorney, Ms. Sylvia Edusu, who represented the Attorney-General on behalf of the EC, had indicated that the Attorney-General was not opposed to the application for an order of 'certiorari' to quash the decision of the High Court.

As a sign of joy, Alhaji Dauda told journalist that the ruling of the Supreme Court will now afford the people of Asutifi South to get a representative in Parliament since the issue before the court had rendered the constituency with no representation since January 7, this year.

To him, the victory is for the entrenchment of democracy in the country, and has made the existing law clear and comprehensible.