President Mahama's election victory in December 2012 was challenged by Nana Akufo-Addo below
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Thursday, August 29, 2013
All eyes
are on the Supreme Court as the nine-member panel hearing the election petition
delivers its verdict today.
Latest by close
of work, Ghana and the world will know who actually won the December 7 and 8, 2012
Presidential Election.
The
nine-member panel of justices hearing the landmark Presidential Election
Petition will either affirm or nullify the Electoral Commission’s declaration
of John Dramani Mahama as President of Ghana, a decision that has been
challenged by three leading figures of the opposition New Patriotic Party
(NPP), including the party’s presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo.
Ahead of
the ruling, anxiety has gripped Ghanaians over the election verdict.
Market women
and traders at the Central Business District of Accra have served notice that
they won’t open shops and would rather watch proceedings from the house.
Some are
also afraid of being caught in crossfire in the unlikely event of violent
breaking out.
The police
have rolled comprehensive security arrangements across the country particularly
the capital city.
Some
roads leading the Supreme Court building have closed to traffic with movement to
court area highly restricted except people accredited for the landmark ruling.
According
to the Judicial Service, accreditation
for the judgment day has been restricted only to parties in the case- the bar,
media and representatives of the security agencies.
A statement signed by Justice
Alex B. Poku-Acheampong, Judicial Secretary, said, the decision was taken to
ensure that security at the Court premises and inside the courtroom is not
compromised.
The statement said the public is
advised to stay away from the premises of the Court on the judgement day and
follow the proceedings through television and radio sets.
God’s
Intervention
Both the respondents led by
President Mahama and the petitioners with Nana Akufo-Addo leading have turned
to God to seek his face as the nine Justices deliver. They have been praying
unending.
The EC Chairman
Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan on Sunday December 9, 2012 declared the ruling National
Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate Mr. Mahama a former Vice President who
became substantive President following the sudden death of Prof. John Evan Atta
Mills in late July 2012, as President-elect and was subsequently sworn into
office on December 7, 2013.
The EC’s
declaration did not go down well with the opposition the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) who subsequently filed a petition at the Supreme Courts through their
flagbearer Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s
Chairman Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey after alleging widespread violations and
irregularities.
Petitioners Reliefs
The petitioners sought reliefs are: “A declaration
that “John Dramani Mahama was not validly
elected president of the Republic of Ghana.”
They also want the court to declare
that “Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 1st Petitioner herein, rather was
validly elected President of the Republic of Ghana,” as well as “Consequential
orders as to this court may deem fit.”
The violations
The
violations being complained about by the petitioners include over-voting,
voting without biometric, same serial numbers on pink sheets as well unsigned
pink sheets by Electoral Commission (EC) officials who acted as Presiding
Officers during the election.
Issues To Be Determined
The panel specifically looked at whether
or not statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices occurred in the
conduct of the election and whether they affected the outcome.
Polling stations Involved
The original number of polling stations
that the petitioners were relying on was 11,842 as fully set out in the further
and better particulars together with the various infractions so that each
polling station was identified together with its infractions.
Subsequent to the 11,842 there had been
various reductions and after close of evidence the said they were relying on 10,119
polling stations.
Petitioners
Permutations
The petitioners specifically want the
court to strike out 3,916,385 votes due to what they say are statutory
violations, irregularities and malpractices.
They
insist that per their analysis, President Mahama’s 5,574,761 as declared by the EC on December 9, 2012 should have been 2,952,210,
representing 41.79% since votes
totaling 2,622,551 out of the figure announced were invalid.
In the same vein, the petitioners say that the
5,248,898 declared by the Dr. Afari-Gyan for Nana Akufo-Addo should have been
4,0157,12 representing 56.85% since1, 233,186
of the votes were invalid and should be annulled.
At
the close of evidence Mr. Addison had put it to Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, who was
winding up his cross-examination, that President Mahama was the ultimate
beneficiary of the violations, malpractices and irregularities complained about
but the commissioner denied.
Giving
a breakdown of the violations, malpractices and irregularities, the petitioners
claimed that over voting alone totaled 742,492 and 502,013 inured to the
benefit of President Mahama with 225,155 going to Nana Akufo-Addo.
Dr.
Afari-Gyan at a point testified that “I don’t know the basis for this. It can’t
be…if there is an over-vote there no way you can say it belongs to one
candidate…it is wrong to say because someone won an election he is the
beneficiary…I can’t answer that question.”
In
the “No Verification No Vote” category, the total votes affected were 810,827 and
out of the total, 558,236 people who voted without biometric verification were
attributed to President Mahama while Nana Akufo-Addo got 234,161.
Dr.
Afari-Gyan insisted that “as far as the EC is concerned everybody who voted was
biometrically verified.”
In
the “No signature by Presiding Officers” category the total valid votes
affected was 659,135 and 447,655 were attributed to President Mahama while Nana
Akufo-Addo got 197,628.
Dr.
Afari-Gyan again replied that “I have no basis of knowing that.”
On
the ‘Duplicate Serial Numbers’ category, the petitioners said that 3.499,308
valid votes were affected and 2,338,993 were attributable to President Mahama
while 1,093,661 were given to Nana Akufo-Addo but again, Dr. Afari-Gyan has
testified that “I don’t know that for a fact.”
Mahama’s
Excess Votes
The petitioners have asked the court to
look critically at the votes obtained by President Mahama and those attained by
NDC parliamentary candidates put together during the election since what Mr.
Mahama obtained was far in excess of the total votes of all NDC parliamentary
candidates.
The petitioners have said that could be
explained but in the instant case there was no ‘Skirt and Blouse’ phenomenon as
it is referred to in local parlance.
Minority Instead
of Majority
During the trial Philip Addison, leading the petitioners in
evidence had alerted the court that President Mahama garnered 5,574,761 as
against 5,127, 641 by all his parliamentary candidates showing a difference of
447,120.
In the same vein, Nana Akufo-Addo obtained 5,248,898 votes
and his parliamentary candidates had 5,248,882 which showed a difference of only
16.
According to the petitioners, the NDC majority in Parliament
secured 121,221 votes less than the minority (NPP).
Addresses Drama
At the close of evidence, after about
seven months of trial, the court fixed July 30, for all the parties to file
their addresses but all parties with the exception of the NDC, the third
respondent complied with the court’s order and had to file the next day.
They were then given August 7, to
address the court orally after which the nine-member panel, presided over by
Justice William Atuguba, fixed August 14 for the judges to seek clarifications
from the parties.
Petitioners
Final Push
According to the petitioners, they have
shown by the sheer depth and weight of the evidence adduced at trial and the
force of legal arguments advanced in this address that “there were indeed,
substantial constitutional and statutory violations, malpractices and
irregularities in the 2012 presidential election and that these violations,
malpractices and irregularities had a material effect on the results of the
election as declared by 2nd respondent.”
“The petitioners have been able to
demonstrate, by the show of a preponderance of evidence of invalid votes, which
go to affect the declared results by the Electoral Commission for John Dramani
Mahama in the December 2012 Presidential Election,” Mr. Addison told the court
on the final day.
Respondents
Hit Back
The respondents have also disputed the
claim of the petitioners and asked the court to dismiss the petition.
“At least the first
and third petitioners have been part of this electoral system for years.
Inventing such a claim is, therefore, an act of bad faith. It was an invention
by petitioners to bolster their case and should be wholly dismissed as
adventurous,” Tony
Lithur, counsel for 1st respondent President Mahama said.
“My Lords we would respectfully submit
that the petitioners have failed to prove their case before your Lordships, not
one single vote ought to be annulled, they have not justified the annulment of
a single vote under any of the categories that they have cited,” James
Quashie-Idun, lead counsel for the 2nd respondent Electoral
Commission (EC).
“The petitioners’ claim
is factually empty, with no supportable evidence being produced. It is legally
pathetic; the petition is poor in arithmetic and extremely poor in logic,” was
how Tsatsu
Tsikata lead counsel for the 3rd respondent National Democratic
Congress (NDC) described the petition.
The Panel
Justice William A. Atuguba,
president of the panel has been at the Supreme Court since May 1998, Justice Julius Ansah (since July,
2004), Justice Mrs Sophia
Ophilia Adjeibea Adinyira (since 2006), Justice Rose Constance Owusu (since June, 2008), Justice Jones Victor Mawulom Dotse
(since June, 2008), Justice Anin Yeboah (since June,
2008), Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie (since
June, 2008), Justice Sule Nasiru Gbadegbe
(since Oct 2009) and Justice Vida Akoto-Bamfo (since
Oct 2009).
Exhibits
But for a few documents including
letters and tape recordings, all other documents used as exhibits throughout
the trial were Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results forms popularly
called Pink Sheets due to it colour. They were all filed by the petitioners.
Witnesses
The court scuttled a threat by the NDC
that they were bringing 11,000 witnesses to testify in the petition and subsequently
restricted oral evidence to only the parties.
As a result, only Dr. Bawumia testifying
on behalf of the petitioners, Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah for both President Mahama
and the NDC and Dr. Afari-Gyan as the Returning Officer for the Presidential
Election were the only witnesses that testified.
The court also brought in Nii Amanor
Dodoo, Head of Audit Practice and a senior
partner of the accounting firm KPMG to testify, after the firm had been chosen
by the parties to count the number of pink sheets.
The
Legal Teams
The petitioners had Philip Addison as
lead counsel, supported by Stephen Dapaah Addo, Ms. Gloria Akuffo, Frank
Davies, Alex Quaynor, Akoto Ampaw, Kwame Akuffo, Nana Asante Bediatuo, Godfred
Yeboah Dame, Egbert Faibille and Prof. Kenneth Attafuah.
Tony Lithur represented President Mahama
with support from Dr. Abdul Bassit Aziz Bamba while James Quashie-Idun (lead),
Anthony Dabi, Stanley Amartefio, Freda Bruce Appiah and Stephanie Amartefio came
in for the EC.
The NDC has Tsatsu Tsikata as lead
counsel with Samuel Codjoe supporting.
Live Coverage
In
what can be described as the first of its kind in the history of the judiciary,
the court on Tuesday, April 16, agreed to telecast the proceedings live on
television and radio, probably taking a cue from what had happened in Kenya in
a similar petition.
Anxiety
All Over
The whole country is currently gripped
by a heightened sense of anxiety as it awaits the ruling of the court.
The Presidential Election Petition is
arguably the biggest test for Ghana’s democracy yet was filed on December 28,
2012 by Nana Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s
Chairman Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey.
This is the first time the legitimacy of
a Ghanaian president’s electoral victory has been challenged to this level
amidst fears of possible violence.
There are reports of mass acquisition of
visa for relatives of the political class as people smelling possible
escalation of violence are allegedly preparing to leave the country. Traders
are also said to have slowed down on their trade in anticipation of the court’s
ruling.
There are fears that if the court
decides President Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should step
down, his peeved followers could wreck havoc on the country.
Conversely, there flip side that if the
court’s ruling favored the NDC, supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
whose flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and two others filed the petition
could also spark unrest.
This can be read from the scripts of
both parties as the NPP calls for justice before peace; NDC is crying for
peace. The ruling of the court would therefore be decisive.
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