Former President, John Dramani Mahama who was contesting the validity of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) declaration of the 2020 presidential election is expected to later today speak on the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict dismissing his case.
The petitioner’s speech is scheduled for 6:00 pm at his office in Cantonments, Accra.
One of Mr. Mahama’s legal team member in the just ended case, Abraham Amaliba made this known shortly after the apex court’s judgement on Thursday, March 4, 2021.
He said, unlike the usual post-proceedings press conferences by spokespersons, today’s address will be presented personally by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate in the polls.
“We just heard the judgement of the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, we are not able to address you now. We shall however address you through our flagbearer at his office,” Amaliba announced.
Three months after the trial, the Supreme on Thursday, March 4, 2021, ruled that the petition as filed by John Mahama was without merit.
Chair of the seven-member panel, Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah dismissed the petition.
The petition
John Mahama was challenging the results of the polls insisting that none of the nine presidential candidates obtained the mandatory 50%+1 vote constitutional threshold to be declared the winner of the polls.
In his petition filed on December 30, 2020, Mr. Mahama sought five reliefs from the apex court.
He among things asked the Supreme Court to declare the EC’s declaration of President Nana Akufo-Addo as winner of the polls as unconstitutional, null and void.
Mr. Mahama based his arguments on some declaration errors made by the EC as well as allegations of vote padding.
He also asked the apex court to order the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct a re-run of the election between himself and President Akufo-Addo.
The petitioner called three witnesses to make his case at the court–Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte and Rojo Mettle-Nunoo–and they were cross-examined
Ruling
The Respondents — the Electoral Commission and President Akufo-Addo– urged the apex court to dismiss the petition.
They argued that the petition was incompetent, lacked merit, and raised no reasonable cause of action.
In its ruling, however, the Supreme Court said the petitioner failed to prove his case via his petition or through his witnesses.
Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah who read the ruling said the accounts of Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte were immaterial to the case since the issue in contention had nothing to do with how the results were collated at the Electoral Commission’s national collation centre popularly known as the Strongroom.
