A leading Member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Otchere Darko has said that one would have expected the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama to be in a hurry with his election petition to secure the relief that he is seeking, a rerun of last year’s elections.
His comments come after the Supreme Court ordered Mr Mahama to file his witness statements and arguments in response to the preliminary objection raised by the respondents latest by Wednesday, January 27.
“One would expect that John Mahama would rather be in a hurry to get an “illegitimate” president thrown out 4 the runoff done quickly for him to take his ‘rightful’ throne. Election petition: Justices take on Mahama’s team for not filing witness statements,” Mr Otchere Darko said in a tweet on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court said on Tuesday January 26 that it will be forced to throw out the 2020 election petition if lawyers of the petitioner, Mr John Mahama fails to comply with the rules of proceedings.
The court also expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the petitioner and warned it will take appropriate actions against him if he fails to comply with the order to file the witness statements and arguments by the given deadline.
These actions, the court said could include the dismissal of the petition.
The court ordered during its last sitting on Wednesday, January 20, that all parties file their witness statement by Thursday noon, an order the counsel for the petitioner, Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata contended was too short a time.
The petitioner had also filed a motion seeking a review of the ruling the court gave on the petitioner’s earlier application for interrogatories, but that motion was not granted.
Between the last sitting and today, the petitioners again filed a motion insisting on a review of the court’s ruling on the interrogatories and also to amend paragraph 28 of the original petition as well as add to it.
The court on Tuesday, January 26, did not grant any of the motions but rather ordered that its earlier orders be complied with. It is worthy to note that the 1st Respondent Electoral Commission of Ghana and the 2nd Respondent Akufo-Addo have filed their witness statements as was ordered by the court on January 20.
The case has been adjourned to Thursday, January 28.
