The Supreme Court has dismissed an application filed by former President John Mahama in the election 2020 petition hearing to reopen his case.
Mahama was seeking to reopen his case to subpoena Electoral Commission chair Jean Mensa after she served notice she is not going to testify.
The seven-member panel of the apex court chaired by Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said they find no merit in the application and proceed with the ongoing case without any hesitation.
In view of that, the court held that it could not exercise its discretion in favour of the petitioner.
According to the court, the petitioner failed to tell the court the sort of evidence he needed from Mrs Mensa and how that evidence would help in the determination of the petition.
Also, the court held that the argument by lawyers for the petitioner that Mrs Mensa must testify in order to account to the people of Ghana her stewardship during the December 2020 elections was untenable.
It was the considered view of the court that Mrs Mensa was not on trial before the court for her to testify to vindicate herself.
Review
After the ruling, lead counsel for petitioner, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, informed the court that his client had filed a review of the court’s ruling on February 11, this year, that upheld the EC’s decision not to call witnesses to testify.
Counsel also told the court that his client would file an application for stay of proceedings pending the determination of the review application.
Source: Daily Mail GH with additional files from Graphic Online
Email Daily Mail GH: stories@dailymailgh.com or
Whatsapp: +233(0)509928122
