MP Files Appeal At Supreme Court

NDC MP for Wulensi Samuel Nyimakan has gone to the Supreme Court for an order to set aside the ruling of a Court of Appeal that upheld an earlier judgement of the Tamale High Court declaring the results of the December 2000 parliamentary elections in Wulensi void.

The Tamale High Court declared Mr. Nyimakan's election as Member of Parliament for Wulensi void, after it ruled that he hails from Saboba in the Bimbilla Constituency and therefore cannot represent the people of Wulensi.

The Electoral Commission is planning a by-election to elect a new MP for the area. But counsel for the MP has filed a motion on notice at the Court of Appeal for a stay of execution until the appeal at the Supreme Court is determined.

The notice of appeal filed at the Supreme Court by Mr Kwaku Baah (counsel for Mr. Nyimakan) is seeking a Supreme Court order to set aside the decision of the Tamale High Court delivered on July 6, 2001 and affirmed by the Court of Appeal on April 12, 2002.

The notice said counsel is challenging the judgement of the Tamale High Court on the grounds that the procedure adopted by Mr. Fuseini Zakaria, who filed the election petition, to initiate the proceedings is flawed fundamentally because it did not comply with the procedure prescribed by law.

It said the trial court misdirected itself and thus erred in law when it held that the petitioner had on the evidence on record discharged the burden of proof laid on him and went on to hold that the burden of proof shifted unto Mr Nyimakan.

It further stated that the trial court misdirected itself and thus erred in law when it held that because Mr Nyimakan had declared in various exhibits (educational records) that his hometown was Saboba in the Bimbilla Constituency, he did not hail from Kamboni in the Wulensi Constituency.

The statement said the trial court further misdirected itself and thus erred in law when it held that Mr Nyimakan was born at Saboba and so he could not have hailed from Kamboni in the Wulensi Constituency thus wrongly construing the phrase "hail from" as same as "born in" or "home town".

It said the trial court also erred in law when it failed to appreciate that where one "hails from" is not always the same as where one was born or one's home town or home address and thus caused a substantial miscarriage of justice.

In an affidavit in support of the motion, Mr Baah argued that as a sitting member of Parliament for Wulensi, Mr Nyimakan will suffer considerable hardship than Mr Zakaria will, if the application for stay of execution is not granted.