TSATSU GOES SLOW

Petitioners

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday May 3, 2013.

The laborious manner in which Tsatsu Tsikata, lead counsel for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is cross-examining a star witness in the presidential election petition, yesterday attracted what looked like another subtle protest from the nine-member panel of Supreme Court Justices hearing the case.

The style of Mr. Tsikata’s cross-examination of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia which takes about 10 to 15 minutes to ask sets of questions was first brought to the court’s attention by Phillip Addison, lead counsel for the petitioners, who said it was a tactics adopted by the NDC counsel just to delay the trial.

Since Mr. Tsikata took over from the Electoral Commission’s counsel, James Quarshie-Idun, he has used two and half days in cross-examining Dr. Bawumia who is the 2^nd petitioner but it appears he is not going to complete the exercise anytime soon.

The judges expressed similar concern about the style of cross-examination of Tony Lithur, counsel for President John Dramani Mahama, when the felt he was not helping to make any progress in the matter.

Yesterday for instance, there were about five sets of questions on pink sheets divided into lots which were repeatedly asked throughout the proceedings by Mr. Tsikata.

Mr. Tsikata would ask Dr. Bawumia to identify sets of pink sheets after which he would ask whether the sheets have been duplicated and once the witness answers the question, he would find out if NPP agents signed those documents and when the answer is given, he would ask if the petitioner’s party agents raised protest at the polling stations or collation centres and once the answer is given, he would ask the witness to announce the results on the face of the pink sheets.

Tsatsu Tsikata and Tony Lithur leave the court's premises

As the whole process became repetitive, boring and time wasting, Mr. Addison cut in to complain about Mr. Tsikata’s style.

Addison: My lords, we have just been served with another set of pink sheets under the heading “Pink Sheets”. I don’t understand why we have being served in Lots, if you have a thousand or two thousand duplicate sheets; I don’t see why he cannot compile a list of a thousand duplicates and let’s deal with it in one stretch. This business of bringing it in Lots, I do not understand what purpose it’s supposed to serve. Apart from that, the questions that he keeps repeating; five questions can apply to all these Lots…This is a very tiring process that we are going through here and it’s intended to delay, that’s all that it is.

Justice Atuguba: My observation is that we ourselves have seen it, but unless we misunderstood it, it seems the exhibits are dealing with different categories.

Counsel (Tsikata): My lords, I have indicated that the difficulty in trying to assist in expedition has meant that we have different people putting lists together as they go through the pink sheets. We are trying to be helpful, and so different people are putting the list together and as the lists are completed, we bring them forward. If we are going to do the whole list before we present all of them, I think that will take even more time.

Justice Atuguba: In that case, you prepare your Bills of Laden (according to the categories) before we come to sit, then it goes fast. But when you come here and your sorters have to do adhoc sorting.

Counsel: My lords, it’s not adhoc at all, the point is that this situation is entirely the creation of the petitioners; we have a situation in which duplication, triplication, quadruplicating…I mean, this is something completely unusual my lords. We are entitled to have from their exhibits, a clear set of exhibits that speak to their case, we are entitled to that.

He continued: “We rather have to sort out and show…my lords we are leading inexorable to a very important point in respect of these duplications, and it seems to me that in a situation where they claim that there are 11,000 and more exhibits at stake, no one can accuse us of being in anyway, the people who are causing the delay.

“We would of cause show that we do not have 11,000 and these duplications are meant to give that misleading impression. But am saying that for the moment, we are doing our best in a situation which is completely beyond our control; it is entirely the creation of the petitioners, he protested.

Gatecrasher! Tony Benony Amekudzi

Justice Atuguba: I understand that, but it appears you are trying to counter-claim in respect of what you allege they did in some measure, I mean, when we close, and you get home, why don’t you sort out as many as you can.

Counsel: My lords, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.

Justice Atuguba: That’s why the day before the holiday, I joked that you people could come and sit here and do this horse-trading before today’s sitting. We shall be making another direction (guideline of procedure of cross-examination).

Justice Dotse: I think we appreciate your point, the concern is that, like you have done in the case of the triplicate and quadruplicate pink sheets, you put them all in separate lots, so now that we have come to the duplicate pink sheets-even though they may be in higher numbers-, the suggestion is that if you can put all those together so that the cross-examination of a sample of them would apply to all those on the duplicate pink sheets, so that we can move further.

Counsel: My lords, in this situation, I respectfully decline your invitation.

Justice Atuguba: No, no, no, but you see, in this exercise, you are the shipper, and you prepare your bill of laden ahead of time.

Counsel: My lords, we are doing our best, in a situation that is completely the responsibility of the petitioners, I mean, it is totally unusual that you can have the situation that we are in. Where exhibits that the party is supposed to provide, we are finding so many duplicates, so many sources of confusion, so many misleading aspects and we have to sort them out. My lords, with the greatest respect, we are doing our best in a situation that is not of our making. We would continue to do our best in recognition of the directions that you’ve given, but because of the numbers, your lordships will also appreciate that it would actually be slower if we have just one list.

Justice Atuguba: Oh, yes, that one we appreciate, but we feel you can do with more expedition. I‘m under the impression that you wait until you come into the court and then you start up the process.

Gloria Akufo

Counsel: No my lords, you may have noticed that my learned friend has been outside a couple of times because we’ve actually been out providing some of the counsel on the other side with copies….

Justice Atuguba: And they are sorting outside?

Counsel: Yes, we look at it first outside…..

Justice Atuguba: But all that starts after we’ve started sitting?

Counsel: No, we’ve done some during the break as well. The point I’m making is that, after we’ve gone out and that is done, when it comes back-naturally-, senior counsel would also want to assure themselves. Everybody is now trying to do some quality control…

Justice Atuguba: Yes, but that can still entail some expedited compaction, because if you have sorted out and you have to see, but when they are sorted out and you send them to [the other team of lawyers], then you do the test cases-you know, two or three as test cases, then it goes in, then its faster….What we would do is that, every morning, we would sit at 9.30am, so that before we come, you have the time to do all these things [sorting] as much as possible.

Counsel: Very well (He continues his cross-examination)

Sitting continues on Monday May 6, 2013.

It’s time-wasting-Gloria Akuffo

Nana Ato Dadzie

Spokesperson for the petitioners’ legal team, Gloria Akuffo decried the time-wasting tactics of Tsatsu Tsikata's cross-examination in the hearing of the election petition at the Supreme Court.

Mr Tsikata on day 10, and three days into his cross-examination of the witness, was essentially trying to fish out duplication, triplication, quadruplication of pink sheet exhibits.

He has so far fished out 65 of such cases and said there are more pink sheets he intends to show the court as evidence of attempts by the petitioner's to deceive the court.

But Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, a key witness in the case has insisted that despite these errors "you don’t win the case by the quantity of your papers but the quality of your analysis."

After three days and only 65 pink sheets covered, petitioners appear dissatisfied with Tsatsu's "piecemeal" approach.

Its a "drudgery", Madam Akuffo said, for Tsatsu to ask the same "five sets of questions" for the similar pink sheets over and over again.

She said the Registry could rectify the problem of duplicate and triplicate pink sheets.

"If you have so many of them [pink sheets] that are duplicate one would have thought that you would bring them all forward", she offered to advice.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawyer believed the problem was a result of a "mix up" during "re-boxing" and said the problem could have been rectified at the registry of the Court.

She expressed her satisfaction that the Presiding Judge, Justice Atuguba sided with them.

"Clearly" its a "time-wasting mechanism" she declared.

Although counsel for National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ato Dadzie conceded the "pace appears to be slightly slow", he also insisted that its "the only way you can get to the truth".

 For a whole day, Tony Lithur, lead counsel for President Mahama kept asking the 2^nd petitioner, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia virtually same questions on different categories of over-voting to which the witness appeared to give the same answers on the emerging issues.

However, as the exercise appeared to be boring, one of the panel members, Justice Jones Victor Dotse tried to offer what he said was his ‘personal’ suggestion to Mr. Lithur as to aid expeditious trial.