Advertisement

‘Be cautious in choice of witnesses in petition’

A senior lecturer at the Ghana School of Law, Mr Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, has cautioned against lining up of thousands of witnesses in the presidential election petition pending before the Supreme Court.

He expressed the conviction that such a number could create inconsistencies in the accounts of witnesses and that could be problematic.

In an answer to the election petition by Nana Akufo-Addo and two others, President John Mahama rubbished all claims of vote rigging and irregularities and made a firm indication of his intention to call about 4,800 witnesses to prove that the petition by the NPP leaders was without merit and ought to be dismissed by the court.

According to a member of the NDC legal team, Victor Adawudu, the President was bringing all those witnesses in order to send a clear signal to the whole world that he was indeed the winner of the 2012 December elections.

But speaking to Joy News, the law lecturer said 4,800 witnesses were unprecedented in Ghana’s court history.

While agreeing that there was no cap on the number of witnesses a party might call in a civil case, he was quick to add that the court system had its own way of “weeding out unwanted witnesses”.

He said if a witness went to court only to repeat what was on record, written or oral, the judge had the power to use the "ruling against self-serving or narrative evidence" to stop that witness.

Mr Opoku-Agyeman explained further that in the court of law, the quality or credibility of a witness was more important than the quantity of witnesses.

“Even corroboration is not necessary. Therefore, it does not matter that you have only one witness. If you have a witness who is credible, it is better than thousands of pathological liars who will be lined up and be affected by lack of credibility and inconsistency which will be fatal to your case," he stated.

Mr Opoku-Agyeman said whoever was considering lining up witnesses must know that “the credibility of your story depends on the consistency of witnesses’ testimony”.

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |