General News of Thursday, 11 February 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-02-11Marietta refutes claims Mahama is relying on EC Chair to prove his case
play videoMarietta Brew Appiah-Oppong , spokesperson and member of the legal team for John Mahama
A spokesperson and member of the legal team for the petitioner, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, has denied assertions that petitioner John Dramani Mahama intends to use the respondents’ witnesses to make his case hence the push to compel EC chair, Jean Mensa, to be cross-examined.
Legal teams for first and second
Read full articlerespondents have reiterated that arguments and witnesses presented by the petitioner have not been able to adduce enough evidence to establish their case.
Hence they saw no reason why their witnesses should mount the witness box for cross-examination. Lawyers Justin Amenuvor and Akoto Ampaw, counsel for EC chair Jean Mensa and President Nana Akufo-Addo respectively; subsequently closed their cases and prayed the apex court to dismiss the petition.
The Supreme Court in today’s ruling dismissed the petition by Mahama to have Jean Mensa and Mac Manu cross-examined despite various arguments by Tsatsu Tsikata, lead counsel for the petitioner.
While addressing the media after today's ruling was handed down, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, stressed that the petitioner and the NDC still believed in the strength of the case which is questioning the validity of the presidential results declared by Jean Mensa on December 9, 2020.
The former Attorney-General stressed: “We have the strength of our case but as we have stated over and over again, the EC is accountable to us. She has to account as to how those errors arrived. When did she discover those errors? What was the process of correcting those errors?”
She added that: “We’ve seen for some regions there are different summary sheets, different collation sheets. How did that come about? Who’s going to answer these? Apart from that remember that the petitioner is not the returning officer. The petitioner does not declare results. It is the chairperson that declares presidential results in an election.”
Meanwhile, the Petitioner’s counsel has filed two applications; first is to reopen their case to allow them to subpoena the EC to compel its chairperson to testify and a review on the ruling of the court today.
The court presided by Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has ordered all parties involved in the case to file their closing statements by close of day Wednesday, February 17, 2021, and return on Thursday, February 18, 2021.
