High Court to declare Nana Addo unfit to contest for President?

New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Nana Akufo Addo has been dragged to the high court for allegedly keeping a state vehicle for his private use.

A writ filed at the court today by two activists of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and sighted by JOY NEWS says Nana Akufo-Addo illegally kept a two vehicles for nineteen months.

The vehicles in question are a Nissan Patrol with registration number GT 5621 T and a Toyota Land Cruiser GT 1983 X.

According to the writ filed by NDC activists George Spencer Quaye and Alex Doe, the two are asking the High Court for “a declaration that the act of the defendant to keep the said vehicle for his private use is unacceptable for somebody aspiring to be president of the Republic of Ghana or an act of a person unfit to be the leader of the Republic of Ghana”

The two said in the statement issued in March that after stepping down from office in July 2007, the former Attorney General “failed to hand over the two official 4×4 vehicles he was using at the time as a Minister and took them home.”

They also allege that the NPP flagbearer used the vehicles for his campaign efforts in the flagbearership race ahead of the 2008 presidential elections.

“Nana Addo must pay the sum of 798,000 cedis in the coming days for keeping state vehicles for 19 months after standing down as Foreign Affairs Minister in 2007 to contest the NPP flagbearership which he subsequently won, or face a court action,” the two activists who are leaders of a group, ‘Inside Ghana’.

They have followed up on their threat with the suit filed Wednesday April 8 2015.

They are asking the court to declare that his decision to keep the state vehicle for his private use for more than 20 months makes him unfit to be President of Ghana.

Lawyer for the plaintiff Chris Ackumey says his client has enough evidence to “stand the test of time”.

Spokesperson for Nana Addo, Mustapha Hamid says the flagbearer has not received any writ.

According to Hamid, the former Attorney-General Nana Addo has never used public property since he left government in 2008.

He made reference to the fact that Nana Addo did not even use a government bungalow he was entitled to while in office.

The case is an attempt at “political equalization”, Mustapha Hamid argued. He added that because in recent times, a pressure group, Occupy Ghana has dragged a former NDC minister Dr. Joesph Oteng Agyei to court for using a government vehicle years after he exited government, the NDC in haste and without any justification wants to equalize.

Although Dr. Oteng Adjei returned the vehicle on February 24, 2015, it has not stopped Occupy Ghana from dragging the former minister to court.

The group wants the former Environment, Science and Technology Minister Dr. Joseph Oteng-Adjei to pay $500 for each of the 222 days he kept the vehicle.

In total, Occupy Ghana wants the former minister to pay ¢383,000 to the state.  They filed the suit on March 12 at the Accra Fast Track High Court.

According to Mustapha Hamid, the NDC by the writ has “betrayed a certain ill-intent”. He also called the writ “frivolous”.

He is calling the bluff of the NDC activists to do their worst because he believes the party will have the last laugh in court.

“Let them go to court….We will meet them in court”, Mustapha Hamid said.

By: Edwin Appiah