My petition opposing Mahama’s ambition was disregarded by Parliament, so I filed a lawsuit — Kuranchie

The Daily Searchlight’s managing editor, Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie, said that he had petitioned Parliament about the issue prior to filing a lawsuit challenging the eligibility of former president John Dramani Mahama to run in the general elections of 2024.

He said that his petition was disregarded, which is why he decided to file a lawsuit.

“A statement that the length of a presidential term in Ghana is four years, according to a genuine and proper reading of Article 66 (1) of the 1992 Constitution,” is one of the reliefs he is requesting.

“A statement that a candidate for a second term in office must be the incumbent president, according to a truthful and accurate reading of Articles 66(1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution.

An order to “the conditions of [John Mahama’s] agreements with Parliament as a representative of a political party should be clearly disclosed to the House of Representatives”

The next general elections will be held on December 7, 2024, barely 18 months after his action.

During an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the Sunrise programme on 3FM on Tuesday, June 13, when asked if he had thought about the timing of the lawsuit, Mr. Kuranchie responded, “Unfortunately, beyond writing articles and publicising them, I did not pick any action. I raised this prior to the 2020 elections.

I addressed a petition to Parliament in early April in the hopes that they would exercise the authority granted to them by the constitution to put them under their jurisdiction, but I was ignored. I wrote numerous articles before to this one, and I then went to Parliament.

The writ is available here.

Recently, Mr. Mahama was chosen to represent the NDC in the general elections in 2024.

He received 297,603 (98.9%) of all valid votes cast at the NDC primaries on Saturday, May 13, 2023, becoming him the party’s fourth presidential candidate.