Election Petition: Battle of evidence over
On December 7, 2012, Ghanaians went to the polls for the sixth time since the ushering in of constitutional democracy in 1993.
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However, after the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the presidential election by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and two others decided to contest the results at the Supreme Court.
Nana Akufo-Addo’s running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the Chairman of the NPP, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, were the other leading members of the party who joined in filing the petition against the declared results.
The initial writ of the petitioners was filed at the Supreme Court on December 28, 2012, and the court, on January 22, 2013, allowed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be joined to the writ after it had applied to the court to be joined.
Prior to the commencement of the hearing on April 17, 2013, there was heated debate as to whether it should be telecast live, since it was a landmark case in the annals of Ghana’s democracy.
It took the intervention of the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, for the case to be telecast live.
In the course of the hearing, the national broadcaster, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), threatened to withdraw the live telecast, since it was a drain on its resources.
During the hearing, Dr Bawumia, Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, the General Secretary of the NDC; Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan and a representative of the international auditing firm, KPMG, Nii Amanor Dodoo, sat in the witness box to give evidence.
KPMG was brought into the picture after parties in the petition disagreed on the number of pink sheets supplied to the court and the respondents.
The firm submitted its report to the court on June 24, 2013.
Within the period, the panel hearing the petition had to draw some lines to prevent commentators from usurping the powers of the court.
That resulted in a Deputy Communications Director of the NPP, Mr Sammy Awuku, being banned from attending the hearing, while the Editor of the Daily Searchlight, Mr Ken Kuranchie, and a member of the communications team of the NDC, Mr Steve Atubiga, being jailed 10 and three days, respectively, for contempt.
After 46 days of a gruelling legal contest in the highest court of the land, the parties in the presidential election petition concluded their evidence yesterday.
The President of the panel, Mr Justice William Atuguba, might have re-echoed the relief of many Ghanaians when he exclaimed, “At long last the battle of evidence is over."
The lawyers have been given up to July 31, 2013 to file their addresses to enable the court to give a date for the ruling.
Daily Graphic/Ghana