John Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama has filed an application for review to challenge the dismissal of his application for interrogatories by the seven member Supreme Court justices hearing the Election Petition he brought.
Lawyers for the former President had filed an application for interrogatories seeking leave of the highest court to serve some 12 questions on the Electoral Commission (EC) regarding the transfer of votes from the district and regional offices of the EC to its headquarters.
Mr. Mahama wanted the EC to answer, among others, questions relating to the processes involved in the transmission of results from the constituencies to the regional offices of the EC.
He was also seeking to solicit responses on whether or not the National Communications Authority (NCA) in any way facilitated the transmission of results from the various centres to the national headquarters of the EC.
But a seven-member panel of the court presided over by the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the application as not establishing relevance for the grant of such application.
Not satisfied with the decision of the court, the former President filed an application for review, seeking the court to reconsider its decision.
His lead counsel, Tsatsu Tsikata, yesterday, informed the court about the filing of the application after the court had set down issues to determine in the election petition.
The court had also made certain orders regarding the filing of witness statements and exhibits with strict timelines which the lawyer was not happy about.
He informed the court that he had filed the review application which had consequences on their next line of action and also reminded the court that there were outstanding issues that were not discussed.
But a member of the panel, Justice Nene Amegatcher, reminded him that the filing of an application for review of its decision did not operate as a stay of proceedings, hence could not affect the strict timelines provided by C.I. 99, which the court is bound to follow.
The application is scheduled for January 28, 2020.
Interrogatories
The former President’s application for interrogatories was seeking leave of the highest court to serve certain questions on the EC, which he claimed if answered would narrow down the issues before the court for determination.
Mr. Mahama who is challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election after suing the EC and New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, wanted the EC to answer among others, questions relating to the processes involved in the transmission of results from the constituencies to the regional offices of the EC.
The application, according to the former President, was necessitated by the paragraph five of the EC’s response to the election petition where the election regulatory body maintained that it followed the laid down procedures for collating the results of Presidential elections.
He also wanted the EC to answer questions as to whether the NCA in any way facilitated the transmission of results to the headquarters of the EC as it determined the credibility of the results that were transmitted to the EC.
The application also sought clarifications on errors made by the Chairperson of the EC on December 9, 2020 when she declared the results of the Presidential election.
The application was opposed by the respondents who argued that the answers being sought by the application are already contained in Mr. Mahama’s petition as well the responses of the respondents.
They also argued that the interrogatories must relate to the issues between the parties, arguing that all the issues raised by Mr. Mahama’s application were not in contention.
A seven-member panel of the court presided over by Justice Anin-Yeboah and assisted by Justices Yaw Appau, Samuel Marful-Sau, Nene Amegatcher, Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey, Mariama Owusu and Getrude Torkornu refused the application because it did not establish any relevance and would be refused.
It is this decision that the former President is challenging.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak