The 2020 presidential Candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. John Dramani Mahama has It is time for all Ghanaians to come together to confront those who seek to destroy the very democratic system that brought them into the office and noted that It is citizens patriotic duty to do so.
According to him, the Supreme Court has given its verdict on his petition for the 2020 Election but the national debate on the dismal state of Ghana`s democracy and the increasing weakness of its institutions has only just begun.
Mr. John Mahama said this when he addressed Party Leaders and supporters after the verdict of the 2020 Election Petition in the Supreme Court.
He said “it bears reiterating that our grievances with the conduct of the 2020 elections were not limited to just the Presidential elections. Doubts about the Commission’s commitment to fairness and transparency have lingered much longer than the duration of this Petition. “
Mr. John Mahama said this when he addressed Party Leaders and supporters after the verdict of the 2020 Election Petition in the Supreme Court.
The motto of Ghana’s Electoral Commission is Transparency, Fairness, and Integrity – principles the key actors failed to live up to on this occasion. The refusal to account to Ghanaians, further, sets the worrying precedent – and I do worry about this dangerous precedent – that may allow other heads of state institutions to adopt an approach of opacity and non-accountability in their work.
Just because they can rely on unconvincing interpretations of our laws to shield them from scrutiny shortly. I hope and pray that time will prove me wrong.
There is a famous legal maxim brought into common use by Lord Chief Justice Hewart in 1924 that “Justice must not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly see to be done”.
While the judgment was given in this petition, it cannot be said by many to have been seen to be done by the constant unanimous strictures placed on the petitioner in laying out his case.
I have followed the proceedings of this petition and listened to the testimony of our General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketiah from beginning to end. I am quite alarmed at the mutilation of his testimony in the Supreme Court ruling.
Indeed, the ruling I heard today, virtually makes him the star witness of the 1st and 2nd Respondents. Many answers of his testimony in the cross-examination were taken out of context to create the basis for the dismissal of our election petition.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this case will go into the Ghana Law Reports for the future, and academics and students of law alike will find befuddling, the internal contradictions in our jurisprudence. At the appropriate time, the legal team will come out with detailed comments on the judgment.
“The doubts have attended their every action, and rightly so, because of their posturing and sometimes duplicitous conduct. As I have alluded to in the past, the current leadership of the Commission was installed after the politically motivated removal of the previous leadership. Since then, every step they have taken has appeared to be calculated at ensuring the retention of the appointing authority in power. “
The Presidential Candidate said “Aside from the compilation of a new voter registration amid a pandemic, one that many Civil Society Organisations, political and governance experts insist was more procurement-induced than need-based, the time-tested process of consultation and dialogue among stakeholders through the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) was supplanted by unilateralism. This has not boded well for harmonious relations with stakeholders.”
“Compared to the two previous leaderships of the Commission, what we have now does not meet even the minimum requirements of neutrality and non-partisanship that are essential for consolidating our democracy. The much-touted independence of the Electoral Commission exists only in name now. This should give all Ghanaians cause to worry. Today, we still have as a member of the Commission, someone who publicly stated that the political party, which I led into the December 2020 election, is an existential threat to Ghana’s democracy. And yet that same member presided over an election in which the same political party participated.”
“The motto of Ghana’s Electoral Commission is Transparency, Fairness, and Integrity – principles the key actors failed to live up to on this occasion. The refusal to account to Ghanaians, further, sets the worrying precedent – and I do worry about this dangerous precedent – that may allow other heads of state institutions to adopt an approach of opacity and non-accountability in their work. Just because they can rely on unconvincing interpretations of our laws to shield them from scrutiny shortly. I hope and pray that time will prove me wrong.”
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com
