Prof Azar reacts to Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss Mahama’s application
A private legal practitioner and professor of accounting, Prof. Kwaku Asare, vehemently disagrees with the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss an application by the 2020 National Democratic Congress’ presidential candidate, John Mahama, to be allowed to inspect documents in the custody of the Electoral Commission (EC). In his view, granting the request by the petitioner would have enhanced the reputation of the first respondent who is the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa. “The EC loses nothing by making available to a petitioner any and all documents that the petitioner believes will help his case. I dare say such willingness to disclose information actually enhances the reputation of the EC and further adds credibility to its declaration,” Kwaku Azar as he is popularly called, added. Below is his full statement: The petitioners, both now and in 2013, applied to inspect documents in the custody of the EC. In both cases, the EC and the Respondent (the one declared elected) opposed the application. In both cases, the Court unanimously rejected the application. There are some who disagreed with the Court in 2013 but who now agree with the Court. Then there are those who now disagree with the Court but agreed with the Court in 2013. There may be those who agreed with the Court in 2013 and now. They may have good reasons for their stand. I disagreed with the Court in 2013 and do now. My reasoning is simple. Unless there is some privilege that is being asserted, all government documents should be discoverable. The EC loses nothing by making available to a petitioner any and all documents that the petitioner believes will help his case. I dare say such willingness to disclose information actually enhances the reputation of the EC and further adds credibility to its declaration. Some have said that if you have copies of bank deposit slips then that should be enough if you have a dispute with the bank on your actual balance, where the bank claims to use the same slip but has provided multiple balances. I demur. A customer is entitled to know why the bank gets different balances. Discovery should let the parties learn about their adversaries’ evidence to give them time to obtain challenging evidence. The government and its agencies have an even higher duty of disclosure. The Court agreeing to televise the proceedings is the Court’s way of communicating to the public that it has nothing to hide. I will support a revision of the Court’s rules to compel the EC, and other public agencies, to disclose documents in their custody to those who challenge their decisions. Anyone who will want these disclosures as a petitioner should support this move. We must avoid taking positions based on where we stand. The Speaker is right in complaining about the President’s failure to consult Parliament in the appointment of certain categories of Council of State members. By the same token, the Speaker should also complain about why #SALL citizens are not represented in Parliament. It is not “on” for the Speaker to complain about the lack of consultation while failing to take notice of SALL’s unprecedented and unlawful disenfranchisement. Da Yie! Adomonline Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
“What Koraaa Is The Issue With Mr Tsikata? – Gabby Otchere Darko Questioned
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the application to inspect six (6) documents of the Electoral Commission(EC) an application filed by the 2020 presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama. The legal team of John Mahama is asking for six documents including the originals of the constituency presidential election result collation forms (form 9) for all constituencies, the originals of all constituency presidential election results summary sheet (form 10) and the originals of the regional presidential election collation forms (form 11) for all regions. They are also asking for the originals of the regional presidential election results summary sheets (form 12) for all regions and the original of the declaration of the presidential results form (form 13) as well as the records of the alleged update to the purported declaration of presidential election results on 9th December 2020, of the results of four (4) constituencies in the Greater Accra Region. In reaction to this, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere Darko queried: “what really is the issue” “The so-called Form 13 (Declaration of Presidential Results Form) is already filed as Exhibit 4 and attached to witness statement of Jean Mensa. There’s only one Form 13 used and only one in dispute and the EC has filed it. So, what really is the issue, Mr Tsikata? What koraaa?” he tweeted Lead counsel for Mr. Mahama, Tsatsu Tsikata said: “these are plain circumstances which necessitate a reference back to the original documents which are in the custody of the first respondent (EC) so that there could be a proper validation of what the correct figure is,” he said. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
UWR: Everybody, a small boy want to be a contractor in Upper ….
The former Upper West Regional Minister Prof. Avea Nsoh has revealed that every small party boy in the Upper West Region wants to be a contractor when their party is in power. According to Prof. Avea who was speaking on a Bolgatanga based radio station WORDFM monitored by Apexnewsgh.com, Prof Avea was sharing his experience as a former regional minister as he called on the people of the Upper East Region to support the Minister-designate Ambassador Stephen Yakubu to develop the region and then chasing him after contracts. “Even in Upper West, that is why I had a problem with them, in Upper West Everybody, a small boy wants to be a contractor, everybody is strange there, everybody once your party comes, they want to be contractor when they don’t even have a shovel. But general that’s what happens along with all political parties. Some people to come, they just think that once you are in the party or regional leadership then you must get a contract”. Prof. Avea explained Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
How do you expect NDC collate ‘credible’ results from error-ridden pink sheets? – Sammy Gyamfi asks
National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Sammy Gyamfi has reacted to criticisms that the NDC failed to collate presidential results after the 2020 General Elections, wondering how the party could have collated any proper and true results from pink sheets and summary sheets that contain errors. “If I may ask, how can anyone expect the NDC to do any true and proper collation of results on the basis of polling station pink sheets and constituency summary results sheets that contain several patent arithmetic errors and arrive at any accurate outcome? I don’t get it!” He wrote on social media. Mr Gyamfi argued that the request for the NDC’s own results is not justified because the NDC is in the Supreme Court to challenge the declaration by the Electoral Commission and not to present its version of collated results to the Court. Read full statement below: On the matter of the demand for the NDC to present its own collated results of the 2020 Presidential Elections; For the records, candidate Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia did not present their own collated figures or results to the Supreme Court in the 2012/2013 election petition. I dare anybody who disputes this fact to point me to any paragraph in the 2012 election Petition where the petitioners presented their own collated figures to the Supreme Court to show that they won the 2012 presidential election. In that case, the petitioners presented the EC’s own declared figures to the court and asked the court to annul about 4 million votes on grounds that those votes had been affected by alleged legal infractions and irregularities. The petitioners then proceeded to deduct those votes from the results/figures declared by the EC and sought a declaration from the court that candidate Akufo-Addo won the 2012 Presidential election on the basis of the resultant outcome, i.e if those votes were actually annulled. The Petitioners did not present their own collated figures to the Supreme Court to show that they won that election. Unlike the Petitioners in the 2012/2013 case (Akufo-Addo & Bawumia), the petitioner in the present case, John Mahama is not asking the Supreme Court to annul votes and declare him President-elect on the basis of the resultant outcome. He is simply telling the court that per the figures contained in the declaration of the Chairperson of the EC and Returning Officer of the 2020 Presidential elections, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensah, none of the 12 candidates in the 2020 Presidential elections attained more than 50% of the total valid votes cast as required by article 63(3) of the 1992 constitution, hence the declaration of candidate Akufo-Addo as President-elect is unconstitutional. Therefore to my mind, John Mahama doesn’t need his own collated figures to illustrate or prove his claim that Jean Mensah’s declaration is unconstitutional and invalid. Rather, he needs the figures contained in the declaration of Jean Mensah to illustrate and prove his case, which is precisely what he is doing in court. Why then is he being asked to present his own collated figures to the Supreme Court, before he can challenge the constitutionality/validity of the 2020 Presidential results declared by Jean Mensah as per Jean Mensah’s own figures? Particularly, when his own collated figures has got nothing to do with his petition, which is only a challenge of the constitutionality/validity of the Presidential results declared by Jean Mensah on the basis of figures contained in same. If I may ask, how can anyone expect the NDC to do any true and proper collation of results on the basis of polling station pink sheets and constituency summary results sheets that contain several patent arithmetic errors and arrive at any accurate outcome? I don’t get it! My News Gh Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
‘You failed Mahama’ comment by judge has ‘poisoned’ petitioner’s case before judgment – Lawyer
A member of the Communication Team for the Petitioner in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition, Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, has described the opinion of one of the Supreme Court judges presiding over the case, Justice Yaw Apau, as “prejudicial”. According to him, Justice Yaw Apau’s comment that the 2nd witness of the petitioner, Dr Michael Kpessa Whyte “failed the petitioner”, former President John Dramani Mahama means he has passed judgement on the matter even before proceedings conclusively ends. Harassment During Tuesday’s hearing, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, Counsel for the Petitioner, openly accused the court of harassing Dr Michael Kpessa Whyte, the second witness of the Petitioner. This was after Justice Yaw Apau, a member of the panel, had sought to find out from the witness if by leaving the Strong Room of the Electoral Commission he helped the course of the Petitioner. “You did not help the course of the Petitioner by leaving the strong room of the EC,” he said. Mr Tsikata, however, vehemently opposed the question, saying: “The Supreme Court is harassing the witness.” Counsel for the Petitioner held that in as much as Justice Apau had the legal leeway to seek further clarification from the witness, personal opinions cannot be part. Justice Apau, however, pointed out that he only wanted to understand the issues better hence the questioning, and sought to find out from Mr Tsikata in what way his questioning was a harassment of the witness. More Questions From Judges In furtherance of the same issue more of the judges asked the witness why both agents of the Petitioner should leave the EC’s strong room. They further wanted to ascertain whether Dr Kpessa Whyte had any training before taking up the responsibility as the Petitioner’s agent in the EC strong room, and whether they, as agents, were to take instructions from the EC Boss. Evidence Act, Section 58 Commenting on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe said that the Evidence Act, section 58 permits Justice Yaw Apau to make inquiries and also seek clarification by way of questions, but not permitted in the course of proceeding to express his opinion that will be prejudicial to the case of the person who is in the witness box. “You have already come to the conclusion that the witness ought not to have left the strong room of the Electoral Commission (EC). Some of these things, if you don’t exercise restraint, you will say what you are not supposed to say. This is why Mr Tsikata said that ‘you are now harassing the witness with your opinion”, he argued. Whiles calling for circumspection from the panel by keeping their opinions to themselves during court proceedings, Edudzi Tamakloe believed that such a comment from a seasoned judge like Justice Yaw Apau could have compelled any lawyer to end the case. “What is the essence of continuing the matter? It was that piece of a question he asked that the NPP is going about making noise with. The comment of the judge has now poisoned the case of the petitioner even before judgment”, he claimed. Peace Fm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093