Lawyers for former President John Dramani Mahama have filed a fresh process at the Supreme Court seeking leave to amend earlier processes in the 2020 presidential election petition.

The new application was filed at the Supreme Court at 2:30pm on Monday, January 25, 2021.

The Supreme Court is due to hear the 2020 presidential election petition filed by Mr Mahama on Tuesday, January 26, 2021.

Ahead of the appearance in court Tuesday, Mr Mahama’s legal team filed another application at 2:30pm Monday seeking to further amend earlier processes.

The lead counsel for Mr Mahama, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata also intends to file and or argue an additional ground for his application for review filed on January 20, 2021.

One of the spokespersons for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo [2nd respondent] in the case, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who is also the Minister of Information designate thinks that “The effect is to occasion further delays in dealing with the five issues in the substantive matter. Its very unfortunate,” he tweeted.

Source: Graphic.Com

Lawyers for the Electoral Commission (EC) in the election petition are in support of the hearing of the review of the ruling on interrogatories to be brought forward from Thursday, January 28, 2021, to Tuesday, January 26, 2021.

Their stance is in support of a similar motion by the petitioner in the case, John Mahama.

In a motion signed by Justin Amenuvor, the lead lawyer for the EC, he said the sole reason for the notice of abridgement of time for the application for review is to “facilitate an expeditious trial.”

“That the abridgement of time is necessary for a speedy determination of the motion on notice for review and any further orders this Honourable Court may deem fit,” he argued.

“In the circumstances, I respectfully pray that in the interest of justice and speedy determination of This matter, and in line with the timelines of CI 99 the hearing date for the motion on notice for review be abridged to the 26th January 2021 subject to the convenience of the Court.”

The interrogatories from the National Democratic Congress flagbearer, John Mahama, wanted answers to 12 questions as part of the pre-trial process.

But both the lawyers for the EC and President Akufo-Addo opposed the application.

They argued that John Mahama and his legal team were using the “back door” to seek further information from the EC that was not captured in their petition.

Mr. Akoto Ampaw, the lawyer for the President, further described the application as a “fishing expedition”.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision then dismissed the application prompting the motion for review.

Source: GhanaFeed.Com

Lawyers of the first respondent, Electoral Commission (EC), and the second respondent, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the Election 2020 petition filed by the defeated presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama, have filed their witness statements as directed by the seven-member Supreme Court Panel during its sitting on Wednesday, the 20^th of January 2021.

The petitioner who was however directed to file same for his suggested five (5) witnesses by 12:00 noon on the 21^st of January 2021 has as at today, Saturday the 23^rd of January 2021 failed to do so but has rather filed an application seeking to stay proceedings at the Supreme Court until his application for review of the Supreme Court’s decision on an earlier application for interrogatories has been heard.

The first respondent (EC) filed one witness statement in support of their case and the witness is the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs. Jean Mensa. On the other hand, the second respondent, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, by a power of attorney dated the 15^th of January 2021 appointing Peter Mac Manu to testify on his behalf has also filed one witness statement.

Source: AsaaseRadio