The Supreme Court has adjourned ruling to Tuesday, February 5, 2013, on 3 applications before it relating to the case involving Nana Addo and and two others challenging the December 2012 elections which saw John Mahama being declared as winner.
The applications are one each from President John Mahama and the Electoral commission asking for further and better particulars from the flagbearer of the NPP in the 2012 elections, Nana Addo and his colleagues on their petition filed at the supreme courts.
The third one is an interlocutory suit from Nana Addo on the Electoral Commission to furnish him with details of the number of persons registered abroad for the 2012 elections.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the NDC which was just recently joined to the case, should file a motion to request further particulars on the suit to enable the party raise objections in the petitioners’ case.
The bench prevented lawyer for the NDC, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, from raising his concerns on the matter because according to the court, he needed to file a formal application on the matter before he could make his concerns known.
After filing a formal application, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, lead counsel of the NDC today described the request of a preliminary application of voters register from the petitioners as an ‘abuse of court processes’. He therefore requested the Supreme Court not to grant their request.
The petitioners are demanding the voters register of Ghanaians living abroad who were registered ahead of the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections from the Electoral Commission.
But Tsatsu Tsikata challenged the interrogatory application by the petitioners saying the application only seeks to broaden the scope of the petition beyond the matters which Nana Addo is seeking reliefs in court.
On his part, Philip Addision justified their application and indicated that a bloated register will facilitate over voting and there is the need to interrogate if the numbers being represented by the EC is true in all its forms.
He further described as awkward the response by Tsatsu Tsikata since the interrogatory suit does not in any way concern the NDC for which reason he is raising issues.
After hearing the arguments the nine member panel presided over by Justice Atuguba adjourned the case to 5th February to rule on all 3 applications.
Irregularities Occurred In 11,916 Polling Centres
Meanwhile, the petitioners challenging the results of the elections, have amended their petition on the grounds that they have uncovered more evidence of irregularities.
The petitioners namely: Nana Akufo-Addo, flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), his running mate Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, and NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey amended their petition with the claim that they have new evidence pointing to the fact that irregularities occurred in 11,916 polling stations unlike a former claim of 4,709.
Peace FM’s Bernard Quanson reports that Lead Counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison, told the court that voting also took place at some 28 polling stations that were not properly designated; and these were found after the NPP completed its analysis of the available data and the pink sheets.
They are in the process of sending to the Supreme Court an amended writ and will pray the court to annul votes from the nearly 12,000 polling centres.