NDC gurus
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
General-Secretary of the ruling National Democratic
Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah was yesterday subjected to cross-examination
in the Presidential Election Petition currently before the Supreme Court, often
going off track as he answered questions.
He appeared to have a field day when he was led in
evidence by Tsatsu Tsikata but reality dawn on him when lead counsel for the
petitioners Philip Addison started ‘putting it’ to him.
Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah popularly called General Mosquito
in his attempt to discredit the petitioners evidence would not answer questions
suggested to him directly and preferred giving long winding answers which
forced Mr. Addison to complain to the court that “the witness is not answering
my questions.”
He also told General Mosquito at a point that “you
are talking too much…just pay attention and listen to me.”
Definition
of Over-voting
Counsel:
In your evidence-in-Chief, you gave a definition of over-voting which excludes
a situation where if there are 100 ballots issued and it turns out that there
are 110 ballots in the ballot box, you exclude that from over-voting, I’m I
right?
Witness:
Yes you are right.
Counsel:
So in such a situation, what will you term it?
Witness:
When such a situation arises, my lords, it is an indication that some
unidentified material is in the box and there is a procedure of locating that
unidentified material during sorting and it’s removed and the other valid votes
are counted …
Dr. Bawumia
Mr. Addison then handed over a set of pink sheets
where there were more ballots in the box than what was officially issued.
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu-Nketia, in each of the pink sheets, there were more votes than
ballots issued can you check that?
Witness:
My lord, the indication on the face of the pink sheet (mentioning the pink
sheet code), I see total votes in the
box 448 and the number of ballots issued to voters on the polling station
register is 448. With all the rest [the remaining pink sheets shown to him] the
number entered as the number of ballots issued appears lower than the number of
votes in the box…This a classical example of what I describe as unidentified
materials in the box (court audience burst into laughter) …My lords, this
cannot happen and passed unto declaration undetected. I will say without any
fear of contradiction that this can only happen out of clerical errors….
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu-Nketia, the pink sheet you have there shows clearly that the ballots
have been taken out of the ballot box, sorted out and the relevant information
entered on the pink sheet, am I right?
Witness:
Come again (Apparently he did not understand the question. Counsel repeats the
question, the witness consequently answered) Yes sorting happens before
declaration, but I’m insisting that the entries in the ballot accounting
session are wrong, they are clearly wrong because if you look at the
declaration, nobody is challenging the validity of the declaration because
these votes are sorted and counted out publicly and there is no indication that
any polling agent has any problem with the result as declared….
Sir John and Yaw Boateng Gyan
Unidentified
Materials
Counsel:
When you say there are unidentified materials in the box, you mean there are
extra ballots, I’m I right?
Witness:
They might be extra ballot papers; there may be other materials too…
Counsel:
Other materials like what?
Witness:
My lords, if I may explain…All the processes of the voting are very transparent
and are open for the polling agents and everybody there to observe, apart from
the thump-printing in the booth. So what happens in the booth is known to only
the voter, so my lords, it is perfectly possible that somebody can enter the
booth with an extra ballot paper. And mind you, nobody is searched before they
go to vote…..It is entirely possible that in the polling booth, somebody can
add another ballot paper or any other material and fold it together with the
ballot box, and when he comes to out and he is dropping it in the box, nobody
has any means of knowing that you have folded one or two papers. It is a
regular occurrence at polling stations, and that is why the electoral measures
are designed to deal with such a situations…
Unidentified
Material Vrs Votes
Counsel:
On the face of the pink sheet, a name has been given to what you refer to as
“unidentified material”, is that correct?
Witness:
I haven’t seen that here (referring to the pink sheet)
Counsel:
You just told the court that there were extra votes…the total votes cast at
that station
Witness:
That is the figure written in that column
Counsel:
Good, so what you refer to as unidentified material is called votes; total
votes, am I right?
Witness:
No my lord,
Counsel:
What is it called?
Tsatsu Tsikata
Witness:
Well, there is a count of the material in the box, it may include ballot papers
validly issued at the station, it may include other materials that did not come
from that station, so you need to do the sorting before you are able to
identify it is.
Counsel:
it may include anything, what is it called there on the pink sheet?
Witness:
I am saying that there is a column there which indicates total votes in the
box, and there is an entry there…
Counsel:
So it is called what? Why are you afraid to mention it, call it
Witness:
No, because the basis of this whole argument is that there could be problems
with the entries up there (the column indicating the total number of ballots
issued to the polling station), down here, the total votes in the box is 440…
Counsel:
I am suggesting to you that what you call an unidentified material is actually
referred to as votes in the pink sheet.
Witness:
My lord, I have no problem with the declaration of results, I am talking about
a situation where there could be unidentified material. But I’m also saying
that in this case, it is not, because if It were that situation, it would have
been identified in sorting and removed, so it is the figures in the ballot
accounting section that has been entered in error.
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu Nketia, you have told this court that in your view, the only
situation of over-voting is when the number of votes exceeds the number of
registered voters.
Over-voting
Redefined
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu Nketia, you have told this court that in your view, the only
situation of over-voting is when the number of votes exceeds the number of registered
voters, am I right?
Witness:
Yes my lord.
Counsel:
Now, in a situation where the number of votes exceeds the number of registered
voters, what will you call the excess?
Witness:
Where the number of votes exceeds the number of registered voters, the results
are cancelled (Counsel repeats the question because the witness apparently
skirted around the question). I don’t have any name, but the numbers and the
results there are cancelled.
Philip Addison
Counsel:
Is it (the excess) foreign material, unidentified material?
Witness:
That is over-voting, so the results are cancelled.
Counsel:
So that is not unidentified material?
Witness:
Not at all, because over-voting relates to registered voters and the total
votes cast. So you cannot be talking about over-voting in any other context.
The only context in which you talk about over-voting is votes exceeding the number of people who
are entitled to vote because the constitutional right of everybody to have
votes must be protected ….
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu Nketia, you have told this court that there is in fact no incident
of what you describe as over-vote in the petitioners case.
Witness:
None that has come to my notice
Counsel:
None that has come to your notice?
Witness:
No.
Counsel:
I see…Now (Passes on a number of other pink sheets for the witness to
scrutinize) Can you tell the court how many pink sheets you have in your hands?
Witness: Five my lords (Counsel ask him to identify
the pink sheets through their exhibit numbers. The witness did).
Counsel:
In each of those pink sheets, the number of votes cast at the station exceeded
the number of registered voters.
Witness:
On the surface of the pink sheets, the numbers entered in suggests that, but my
lords, this couldn’t have been the case because first of all, the primary
source of numbers registered at the polling station is the voters register, a
copy of which is being held by the polling agent at the polling station. Then
there is the number of ballots issued to the station which in this case is
somewhere in the range of 700. My lords, a polling station with 342 would not
have 700 [ballots issued to the polling station], so my lords when it gets to
the declaration of the result, each and every one of the polling agents have
signed and certified; they have raised no complaint about the result as
declared….I would not say there was over-voting in this case when the figures
do not make sense.
Tony Lithur
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu Nketia you will agree with me that those you have in your hands are
instances where total votes cast, exceeds the number of registered voters at
the polling station?
Witness:
My lord, the entry in the column for registered voters appears lower than the
total votes cast, but I am saying that…. (Counsel cuts in)
Counsel:
Do you agree or you don’t agree on the face of the pink sheet?
Witness:
On the face of the pink sheet, yes.
Counsel:
You agree with me?
Witness:
Yes, but there is a primary record of the number of registered voters and that
is the voters register….
Variants
of Over-voting
Counsel:
Now, Mr. Asiedu Nketia, there is a third variant of over-voting: which is where
total ballots in the box exceed total ballots issued. Do you agree with me?
Witness:
I disagree with you, my lord (There was a back and forth as the witness tried
to understand the question properly)
Counsel:
You see, you are talking too much, just pay attention and listen to me…
(Counsel goes over the question again). Now Mr. Asiedu Nketia, you have told
this court that in the instances of over-voting, it means that foreign
materials have been introduced into the box, am I right?
Witness:
I haven’t equated over-voting to foreign materials introduced in the box. I
have said that there is a situation where there are indications that some
unidentified material is in the box, but I didn’t describe that as over-voting.
Counsel:
So in a situation where there is an unidentified material in the box, you would
agree that the elections at that polling station has been compromised; the
integrity of those elections have been compromised?
Witness:
Not at all…. My lords, otherwise all it takes to make elections messy is for
anybody to get one paper and drop it in the box in the opponent’s stronghold
and it leads to the cancellation of all the votes in that area. That is not the
way we handle elections, that’s why special measures are designed to deal with
that situation and it includes a specific polling station stamp and the
presiding officers signing behind every ballot paper to make sure that this is
a genuine ballot paper.
Gloria Akuffo
Counsel:
Now, the pink sheets you have before you, show that more people voted than were
on the register….(Interrupts and goes on repeating some of the explanations he
has given to what he regards as over-voting. Counsel waits patiently for him to
finish and then repeated the question) Now, I am saying that in the pink sheets
before you, clearly there must be unidentified objects in the ballot box
because there are more votes than the number of registered persons from the
polling station ?
Witness:
No my lords, that is not what I’m trying to portray…
Counsel:
Am asking you
Witness:
That is not the case…
Counsel:
There were not more votes than the number of registered voters?
Witness:
Not at all
Counsel:
On the face of the pink sheet?
Witness:
My lords, the entry there is clearly in error and if you want to cross-check,
you look at the primary source of the information….
Primary
Records of Election
The issue of what is the primary record of the
elections came up strongly in the exchanges between counsel and the witness and
Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah insisted that the primary record is the polling station
register ballot papers and the bottom part of the pink sheet.
He admitted that it the presiding officer who
conducts the election at the polling station and does the entries and signs the
pinks sheet together with all the party agents.
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah, can you tell the court, what the primary records of this
election are?
Witness:
There are documents indicating the primary records of every information in the elections: The primary
record for the number of persons registered at every polling station is the
Voters’ Register. The primary record for
the ballot papers issued to a polling station is the receipt which is signed at
the time of handing over the ballots to the presiding officer, and then the
primary record of the votes cast, sorted and declared is the Declaration
section of the pink sheet.
Counsel:
So what is the primary record for the declaration of the results for the
election?
Witness:
That is the section of the pink sheet titled “Presidential Elections Polling
Station Result Form”, and that is where the tallied for each candidate are
entered and the representative of all those candidates sign and attest to the
correctness of the figures allotted to their candidates.
Counsel:
I’m suggesting to you that the primary record used by the EC for the
declaration of the results is the pink sheet as a whole.
Kwame Addo Kufuor & Tony Lithur
Witness:
I disagree with you, the primary record results of the presidential elections
is the bottom part of the pink sheet which is titled; “Presidential Elections
Polling Station Result Form”. The title for the whole pink sheet is “Statement
of Poll and Declaration of Results for the Office of The President”. The upper
part may be described as a statement of poll, but the declaration of results is
clearly marked there….
Unsigned
Pink Sheets
The court later in a 5-4 majority decision with
Justices Julius Ansah, Rose Owusu, Annin-Yeboah and Vida Akoto-Bamfo dissenting
sustained an objection raised by Mr. Tsikata that the petitioners counsel was
asking questions relating to unsigned pink sheets which were matters of law and
which the witness did not have the capacity to answer.
Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah told the court that the presiding
officer with the supervision of the party agents sorts, counts the ballot
before the declaration.
When asked if the NDC party agents brought their
copies of pink sheets that were not signed he admitted that some of them were
not signed but said the agents are not to direct the court what they should do
and added that the signatures or lack of it did not affect the results declared
by the EC.
The
Presiding Officers
Counsel:
Now, who conducts elections in this country?
Witness:
The second respondent; the Electoral Commission of Ghana
Counsel:
So at the polling station, who is in charge of elections?
Witness:
It is the presiding officer who is in charge.
Counsel:
Who does the entries in the pink sheet?
Witness:
The presiding officer.
Counsel:
Now, is there a requirement that the presiding officer should sign the pink
sheets?
Witness:
It is the requirement that the presiding officer should sign the pink sheet
together with representatives of all the candidates.
Counsel:
If the agents of parties or candidates do not sign, would the result also be
declared?
Witness:
It may be declared because there are rules: Agents who are available at the
time counting was concluded would be allowed to sign. If they disagree, they
must give a reason, if they do not assign any reason for their refusal to sign,
the declaration can proceed and it would be valid.
Counsel:
So whether they sign or not, the declaration would be made?
Witness:
Yes.
34
Years Experience
Counsel
(Philip Addison): Mr. Asiedu Nketia, you have told this
court that you have 34 years of experience in elections in this country, now,
apart from the 2012 elections, do you have any experience of an election
involving biometric verification?
Witness:
No my lord
Minutes
at IPAC Meetings
Counsel:
Mr. Asiedu Nketia, you have told this court that you attended several meetings
of the IPAC where certain decisions were taken; do you have minutes of these
IPAC meetings?
Witness:
My lords, at IPAC, minutes are not recorded. IPAC is a consultative body
established by the electoral commission without any legal backing. It’s a means
of building consensus around decisions that the Electoral Commission intends to
take that affects the elections.
Counsel:
So the answer is that you don’t have any minutes?
Witness:
No my lord.
Evidence-in-chief
Before the cross-examination, the witness had
concluded his evidence-in-chief accusing the petitioners of giving different
versions of their story at different times and that was an indication of bad
faith.
He said that when the NPP felt they were winning the
presidential election they praised the electoral process but when the results
did not favour them they attacked the integrity of the process.
Prof. Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi & Hackman Owusu Agyemang
He also told the court that the petitioners at
certain points in time made allegation to the effect that the EC organized
elections outside the country but this piece of evidence was vehemently
objected to by Mr. Addison.
He argued that there was nowhere in the petitioners
pleadings or affidavits where they made those allegations but Mr. Tsikata
insisted that the petitioners counsel would have his turn to cross-examine the
witness on the issue and “cannot object to the answer of the witness.”
The court in a 6-3 majority decision with Justices
Atuguba, Sulley Gbadegbe and Vida Akoto-Bamfo dissenting, sustained the
objection before Mr. Addison asked that since the objection was upheld, the
court should expunge that piece of evidence from the records which was done
accordingly.
The NDC scribe said the petitioners selectively
brought the application focusing on the strongholds of the 1st
respondent where irregularities malpractices and violation occurred and added
“it smacks of bad faith.”
He said that they have their own copies of the pink
sheet and their analysis confirmed that the petitioner are hiding behind what
he called ‘trivial’ matters to make a non-existing case.
He said that the 2012 election was the most
transparent election ever held under the 4th Republic in Ghana’s
Costitutional Democracy saying there was no opportunity for anybody whose name
was not in the register to vote or for anyone to vote more than once.
He insisted that there was nowhere in Ghana that the
number of votes exceeded what was in the voters register and added that
provisional register was given to all the parties including the NDC.
He said there was only one register used for both
Presidential and Parliamentary elections saying the petitioners can testify
that there were no two different register used.
He said party agents cannot be described by the
petitioners as ‘exalted’ or ‘mere’ observers because the agents were deeply
involved in the election.
He discounted the petitioners assertion that serial
numbers were unique saying “Pink Sheet serial numbers cannot be likened to
serial numbers on cheque books.”
“I have never worked at the Bank of Ghana but at the
Rural Banks where I worked, pink sheets cannot be likened to cheques but can
rather be likened to deposit slips.”
He said pink sheet serial numbers are not tracked
but serial numbers on ballot papers are tracked.
He said he did not receive the pink sheets
personally but rather the NDC lawyers did and said he saw the boxes
subsequently and they were 24 in number.
Sitting continues today.
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