Judge asked NPP to asked to served EC and NDC - presidential run off injunction case

At an Accra fast track court, with Justice Amoako Asante sitting,  has ordered the New Patriotic Party(NPP) and its chairman, Peter Mac Manu(plaintiffs) seeking an injunction on the Chair of Ghana's Electoral Commission from announcing the December 28 presidential run off elections to serve the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Afari Gyan and the New Democratic Congress as interested parties before the case will be heard.

This ruling was as a result of an attempt by the NPP to file an ex-parte writ to to stop the Electoral Commission from announcing a winner in the presidential race in Ghana.

After a very heated exchange between the lawyers of the NPP(Samuel Atta-Akyea) and Tony Lithur who was there as a friend of the court, Justice Amoako ordered the NPP  to serve the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Afari Gyan and the New Democratic Congress as interested parties before the case will be heard. The Judge ordered strict time lines for the NPP and its chairman to serve the NDC and the EC by 10am Friday 2nd January 2009 and for the respondents(EC and NDC) file written submissions by 11am Saturday 3rd January 2009 for the case to be heard.

The Judge was emphatic that the nature and substance of the application was of  the highest national importance and so grave to the national health it was improper for the plaintiffs to come by an ex-parte motion without serving the other interested parties.

Nearly all court cases that actually come to trial have two opposing parties.  However, some judicial intervention can be created by means of a petition to the court; one-party or nonadversarial cases are called ex parte.