Spokesperson of the lawyers of the 2nd respondent in the ongoing election petition hearing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said that members and supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) believe that the lead counsel for the petitioner, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata knows and understands the law better than all the seven and, in some cases, nine justices of the Supreme Court.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said that perception is wrong.
His comments come after spokesperson of the lawyers of the petitioner Dr Dominic Ayine has said the justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana have a predetermined agenda to rule against the petitioner, Mr John Dramani Mahama.
Dr Ayine who is also lawmaker for Bolgatanga East accused the justices of doing a great disservice to the people of Ghana by dismissing an application of the petitioner to reopen his case.
Speaking to the media after court proceedings on Tuesday February 16, the former Deputy Attorney General said “I am surprised that the Supreme Court itself, having set out five key issues to be determined, is now reducing the issues to one which is whether and the extent to which the evidence that we have led shows that no one got more than 50% of the votes in accordance with Article 63 of the Constitution.
“But we have made abundantly clear in the petition that there were a number of infractions. We are contesting even the constitutionality of the declaration that was made. We are saying that she violated Article 23 of the constitution because she is an administrative body.
“We have also said her exercise of discretion was contrary to Article 296 of the constitution. These are all germane issues under the constitution and laws of Ghana. To reduce the petition in to a single issue petition is rather unfortunate and smack of a predetermined agenda to rule against the petitioner in this matter.”
He added “For the court to say that we were bound by law to make our evidence available for it to assess before allowing us to reopen our case is legally problematic proposition, therefore we disagree with the court.
“We think that the court by this decision has not done the people of this country a great service. In the sense that Ghanaians are interested in knowing the truth. Our constitution is very clear that justice emanates from the people and must be exercised in the name of and the welfare of the people.
“The justices today have not given us a reason to believe that they want the people of this country to know the truth about what happened.”
Reacting to his comment while also addressing the media, Mr Oppong Nkrumah who is also lawmaker for Ofoase Ayirebi and Information Minister-designate said “It is true that all the applications that have come before this court have fallen flat but how can it be that the petitioner’s communication team now argues that the seven justices or the nine justices are always wrong in law and only Mr Tsikata is the one who understands the law, knows the law and is therefore always right. It cannot be.
“The last time they won some arguments that some of their paragraphs or paragraphs of Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo’s witness statement should not be struck out, you heard them right before you, that it was a monumental victory.
“We keep making the points that it is not fair to the judicial system, it is not fair to our democracy, it is not fair to the people of Ghana that when you lose an application because it is not grounded in law or because you have failed to meet the legal standards, then you come here and literally poison the minds of the public and make claims that they may be having a predetermined agenda.
“That is scandalous of the court. When you make a legal argument and it is upheld that one is good, when you make an argument and it doesn’t meet the threshold then it means that they are wrong in law or that they had a predetermined agenda.”
Source: 3News
