The Tema High Court has fined Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram Sam George an amount of ₵,6000 over a case he filed against the Electoral Commission (EC).
The MP was fined after the case was dismissed over failure of the lawyers of the MP to show up in court.
Sam George was expected to show up in court with his lawyers to continue with a case earlier filed, seeking to restrain the EC from hosting a supposed workshop on the new voters’ register at the Escape Hotel in Prampram.
His lawyers in making their case argued that the EC will be breaching government’s ban on social gathering, should the exercise continue.
The case was expected to continue today, however, the lawyers of the MP failed to show up in court on time “because of other engagements in Accra,” Mr George said.
According to the MP, there was no need to continue with the case since the said date for the exercise [of the EC] had passed but unfortunately, his lawyers failed to show up in court to discontinue the case.
“The basis on which we went to court was no longer existent because the EC was no longer holding the said meeting.
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“So the decision was that we will go to court today, May 28, and notify the court that we wanted to discontinue the case. By the time my lawyers got to Tema, I heard the judge had ruled on the matter,” he said.
Nonetheless, lawyers of the EC who were present at the court accused the MP of breaching the provisions of Order 55, rule 6 (2 and 3) of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules, 2004 (CI 47).
The EC said Mr George had breached the Order by failing to file a Statement of Case, since the 24th of April when the case was filed, to allow the EC to respond accordingly.
The Tema High Court by presided over by Justice Eugene Nyante Nyadu, agreed with the EC, and dismissed the case, adding a fine of GHS6,000 against the Ningo Prampram MP.
Meanwhile, Sam George says he will seek a review of the fine.
“My lawyers are going to apply to the court to set aside the judgment [and if possible review the fine],” he said.