Court throws out PNC’s Bernard Mornah, EC’s disqualification was lawful

The High Court in Accra has dismissed the lawsuit challenging the Electoral Commission’s (EC) disqualification of Bernard Mornah from the 2024 presidential election.

In a ruling delivered Monday (October 21) morning, Justice Richard Apietu stated that the claims made by Bernard Mornah, a presidential aspirant on the ticket of the People's National Convention (PNC), were unfounded. 

Mr Mornah had argued that the EC failed to specify the reasons for his disqualification and did not provide him an opportunity to rectify the alleged mistakes in his nomination forms. 

However, the court found otherwise based on the evidence presented.

Specifically, the court referenced a letter from the EC dated September 13, 2024, which outlined several anomalies in Mornah's nomination form, including alleged forged signatures and incorrect voter identification numbers following which the EC had given Mornah the chance to correct these issues and resubmit his forms on the same day. 

Justice Apietu emphasized that once the EC had notified Mornah of the anomalies, he should have taken greater care to address the errors when given the opportunity. 

“The court ought not to grant the application for judicial review. The application is refused and accordingly dismissed,” Justice Apietu said.