President’s witnesses can’t delay justice-Mike Oquaye
A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) legal team, Prof.
Mike Oquaye, has told supporters of the party not to panic over the 4,800 witnesses
that the President intends to produce in court.
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According to him, the huge number of witnesses that the President claims to have will not in any way delay justice from prevailing in the case in which the NPP is contesting the validity of the 2012 presidential poll.
NPP supporters in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, have been hit with fear and anxiety since news broke that the President was producing 4,800 witnesses in court over the matter.
They were of the opinion that the move was a well calculated strategy by the ruling political party to delay justice so that President Mahama could remain in office.
But Prof. Oquaye said even if the NDC decided to produce witnesses in excess of the current figure, the Supreme Court would act expeditiously to allow justice to prevail.
Speaking on radio in Kumasi, the former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, said the matter, which the NPP had sent to court, was a serious one and nobody should think they could rely on tricks to delay justice.
He reminded Ghanaians that the matter at the Supreme Court involved the validity of a national election to elect the leader of the country for the next four years.
Prof. Oquaye was of the view that the Supreme Court would work within a short period and bring its verdict for peace to prevail for the country to move on, adding that nobody should, therefore, harbour any fears.
He said claiming that you had about 4,800 witnesses did not necessarily mean that all those people would be mandated to appear in court to testify in the case.
Prof. Oquaye noted that if that was the trend, then all defendants in cases brought before the law courts would always produce large numbers of witnesses so as to delay judgement from being passed.
He said the court could decide to select a fraction of the large number of witnesses that the President claimed to have to testify in the case so that justice would be done immediately.
“The court can call two people per any issue that they are hearing so that justice would be reached as soon as possible,” the former parliamentarian assured NPP fans, urging them to have confidence in the judiciary.
