General News of Thursday, 1 August 2013

Source: joyonline

Ramadan, Akyea review application a waste of time - Mornah

The General Secretary of the People's National Convention has scorned and disparaged Lawyer Atta Akyea for losing a review application at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Bernard Mornah said the attempt by Akyea to secure a review of CI 74 was ill informed, bogus and was destined for the garbage.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous verdict threw out the review application to have judges hearing election petitions to sit during holidays and also to stop parties who lose election petition cases to go for review.

The nine panel of judges said Ramadan in whose name the application was brought had no capacity to bring such an application before the court.

They, however, set a date in October to give comprehensive reasons for the decision taken.

But Mornah appears to have an incline as to what those reasons are.

He told Joy News on Wednesday that Atta Akyea, a respected lawyer at the Bar, should have known better that the case he accepted to champion was destined for the "borla" or garbage.

According to him, Akyea was "pathetic" in court and could not cite a "single authority" to defend his case.

He said today was the "fifth attempt" made to overturn a ruling secured in his favour weeks ago and it turned out to be another "waste of time."

The court agreed with him (Mornah) that portions of CI 74 which allowed justices hearing election petition to sit on holidays was illegal. The court also ruled that parties who lose the petition can proceed to a review.

Mornah stated that his only regret was the failure by the justices to award cost against Ramadan and his lawyer.

He added that if all Ghanaians were to go for a review of cases which the Attorney General loses in court, the whole justice system will be grounded to a halt.

He said Atta Akyea should "bow his head in shame" adding the decision by the court was a reinforcement of the sanctity of the constitution.

But Akyea in a rebuttal said Mornah's effusions are just a testimony of how low the legal system has degenerated.

He said for propagandists like Mornah who knows very little about the law, it is easy to make such "pathetic" and disparaging remarks on issues as crucial as constitutional law.

He said the justices did not go into the merit of the case, but only ruled that the applicant had no capacity to apply for a review.

He wondered how Mornah can apply as a citizen of Ghana to get a ruling in his favour and yet the court will stop another Ghanaian from seeking to review the decision earlier taken by the court.

Akyea said the effect of the ruling of Mornah's case will soon hit the country when a verdict is given on the pending presidential election petition.

He said for the first time, the court has granted a review of an election petition which is open ended, which means, even when a loser of the election petition heads to court, there will not be a reasonable time frame to secure judgment.

He said to ask judges not to sit on holidays was to put more power in the hands of the executive.