The 2020 presidential Candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. John Dramani Mahama has said that it is gratifying that the Supreme court’s proceedings were broadcast live and Ghanaians followed the hearings diligently.
According to him, Ghanaians understood what was happening even if the legal terminologies were not always easy to grasp.
Addressing the media after the Supreme Court of Ghana delivered its verdict on a petition he filed against the declaration made on the evening of 9th December 2020 by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Mrs. Jean Mensa, on the Presidential Elections of December 7, 2020, Mr. John Mahama said Even though the petition to the Supreme Court stood in his name, it nonetheless represented the desire of an overwhelming number of Ghanaians, anxious for answers from the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission as the Returning Officer of the December 2020 Presidential Election.
He said Ghanaians were hoping to hear EC`s testify and many are still baffled by the refusal of Mrs. Jean Mensa to be held to account by testifying in this case – unfortunately, with the unanimous agreement of the justices of the Supreme Court of Ghana. This vital part of the process to establish the truth and hold Mrs. Jean Mensa accountable was blocked time and again by a protective cordon and firewall that I am sure to have confounded many Ghanaians
Mr. Mahama said the refusal of the Chairperson is in sharp contrast to the readiness with which Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, and then Chairman of the Electoral Commission willingly testified in the 2013 Election petition filed by then-candidate Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP.
“Speaking as a Ghanaian, with no legal training, I believe that the refusal of the Electoral Commission Chairperson to testify in this election petition leaves a bad precedent for the future. I disagree with the suggestion of our Justices that an election petition is akin to any other civil litigation and therefore an EC Chairperson, whose functions go to the heart of our democracy, can by legal sleight of hand avoid accounting for her stewardship in an appropriate forum such as the highest court of the land. “
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com
