21.In Chude Mba v The Republic of Ghana, Judgment N°ECW/CCJ/JUD/10/13, the
Court spelt out conditions to be satisfied for the Court to grant an application for
default judgment in the following words:
“Pursuant to the provisions of Article 90(4), this Court in deciding
whether or not to grant the application for default judgment has to
consider the issue of admissibility of the action, the fulfilment of the
procedural requirements as well as the sufficiency of facts adduced
by the applicant to warrant the granting of the default judgment”.
22.In the same vein, in Mohammed El Tayibbah v. Republic of Sierra Leone,
ECW/CCJ/JUD/ 11/15 the Court found that in determining an application for
default judgment, it must consider issues of competence, admissibility and proof
before determining the case on its merits.
23.The Court will now analyse the facts of the case to determine compliance with
these requirement.
On admissibility of the Application
24.In determining this requirement, the court must establish that the subject matter
is within the competence of the court, that the parties can access the court and
that they have the requisite standing.
i. Jurisdiction
25.Jurisdiction is the authority the Court has to decide matters litigated before it. It
serves as the lifeline and the only channel that rationalizes any adjudication.
Thus where a Court has no jurisdiction, its proceedings however well conducted
remain a nullity. Article 9 of the 2005 Supplementary Protocol of the Court
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