NANA SERVES MAHAMA

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday April 12, 2013.

President John Dramani Mahama’s legal team has confirmed that they have been served with the affidavits filed by three petitioners challenging the validity of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) declaration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate as President in the December 2012 general election.

Nana Akufo-Addo 

Tony Lithur, lead counsel for the President who is the first respondent in the landmark election petition, told DAILY GUIDE via telephone that they have been served, saying “I have received some documents.”

The NDC which is the 3^rd respondent also confirmed that it has been served but a member of the party’s legal team, Victor Kojogah Adawudu told Citi FM that they were served ‘partially.’

However, when contacted on telephone, Nana Ato Dadzie, a former Chief of Staff who speaks for the party legal team in court said they were served last night but he was not readily privy to details of the affidavits.

Christian Owusu Parry, EC’s Director of Communications also confirmed that the court’s registry had indeed served the commission with the petitioner’s affidavit.

He told Joy FM that he saw officials of the Judicial Service offloading documents believed to be the completed affidavits from their vans to be served on the EC.

President John Mahama

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (1^st petitioner), his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia (2^nd petitioner) and the party Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey (3^rd petitioner) had until Sunday April 7, 2013 to file their affidavit and they did so in record time.

Once the petitioners successfully filed the affidavit, the onus was on the defendants including President Mahama, the EC - the body that supervised the election - and the NDC which later joined the petition, to file their version of events for definite hearing of the petition on April 16.

The respondents had told the court on Wednesday that they had not been served with the petitioners’ affidavit and other documents related to the case, even though they had five days to file their documents after the filing by the petitioners.

EC’s Motion

As the deadline approached, the EC filed a motion asking the court to vary the orders it had earlier given when setting out the mode of the trial.

Following the filing of the motion, the court had to recall the parties in the petition to an emergency hearing on Wednesday for them to move the motion.

But the nine-member panel chaired by Justice William Atuguba unanimously dismissed the EC’s application and described it as ‘without merit.

“We do not think the court should shackle itself with interlocutory orders,” the panel had said.

Dr. Afari-Gyan

The court said the EC cannot expect that the petition is dealt with using ‘ordinary rules’ and added that all laws must “bow to the constitution”, saying “it is deducible that the presidential election petition must be dealt with in expeditious manner.”

Mode of Trial

In setting out the mode of trial on April 2, the panel made it clear that it is only the petitioners as well as the respondents who can give oral evidence at the trial and that anybody wanting to testify could do so through an affidavit.

5000 Witnesses

This directive has come to scuttle the threat by some of the parties, particularly the first respondent, President Mahama that he was going to unleash a multitude of witnesses on the court running close to 5000.

Due to the delay in serving the respondents, the April 16 date for definite hearing of the petition might delay since the respondents would have to activate the 5-days mandatory period within which to file their affidavits.

When the court meets, it is going to look  at two key issues: Whether or not there were constitutional/statutory violations, commissions, malpractices and irregularities in the conduct of the Presidential Election held on December 7 & 8, 2012 and whether or not the constitutional/statutory  violations, commissions, malpractices and irregularities affected the results of the election.