Petition against Namah dismissed over missed hearing

The National National
Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah with lawyer George Kult and supporters outside the National Court in Waigani, National Capital District, on Friday. – Nationalpic by BEVERLY PETER

By CLARISSA MOI
THE National Court has ruled that a status conference in an election petition matters is a mandatory proceeding and must be attended by parties.
Judge Joseph Yagi said this when dismissing an election petition by petitioner Erick Kowa challenging Belden Namah’s win as Vanimo-Green MP in General Election 2022.
Namah had raised through his lawyer, George Kult, last Tuesday that Kowa and his lawyer Fredrick Lunge did not appear for a status conference as scheduled on March 3.
Kult argued among others that the reasons provided by Lunge were unsatisfactory because he had failed to advise his client, Kowa, on the next court date.
Kult said despite the fact that Lunge’s diary was missing, it was negligence on his part.
Also, the petition had alleged bribery which was a serious offence and they had failed to provide a reasonable explanation for their absence.
Lunge had asked the court not to summarily dismiss the petition because the matter had already been given a trial date and venue even though they had missed one court appearance – which was the status conference on March 3.
Lunge said this was unintentional because his diary where he had kept his notes was stolen at Boroko last month.
Kowa said he was willing to pay the cost for missing the court date.
Electoral Commission lawyer Joppo Simbala argued that there was no dispute, that all the parties were in court on Feb 20 and they were all aware of the next returnable date which was March 3.
Judge Yagi in his ruling on Friday noted Kowa’s absence on March 3 and that the petitioner had failed to provide an explanation.
“Status conference is a mandatory proceeding which must be attended,” he said. The court noted that there was no evidence of reports from the police station that Lunge’s bag was stolen.
Judge Yagi dismissed the election petition against Namah due to Kowa’s failure to comply with court orders namely his non-attendance at the status conference.