AMUA–SEKYI J.S.C.
The applicant, Paul Laryea, offered himself as a candidate in the Kinka Electoral Area in Accra in elections due to be held under the Local Government Law, 1988 (P.N.D.C.L. 207). On the day the election was to take place, a report appeared in the Ghanaian Times newspaper that he had been disqualified from standing for the election and that fresh nominations had been called for. He took out a writ in the High Court, Accra, against:
(i) the National Commission for Democracy;
(ii) the Accra City Council; and
(iii) the District Secretary, Accra.
On being served with the writ, the defendants raised three preliminary objections, namely:
“(a) the action ought to have been commenced by the filing of an election petition under regulation 46 of the District Assembly Elections Regulations, 1988 (L.I. 1396);
(b) the National Commission for Democracy was not a legal entity and therefore the defendant should have been the Attorney-General who was entitled to one month’s notice of in…