Akufo-Addo will voluntarily step down if he sees NDC’s evidence of rigging in 2020 polls – Muntaka

Minority Chief Whip in the 7th Parliament, Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka, has disclosed that evidence put together by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to prove a case of vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election at the Supreme Court will hold the panel of judges spellbound.

According to him, some of the glaring instances of vote padding are so bad that President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo himself will step down when the evidence is made available to him.

“Some of the things that I have seen, I want to believe that if President Nana Addo himself is sitting as a member of the panel of judges [he will give up the presidency] …I am telling you…,” Muntaka Mubarak was emphatic.

He made the comment on PM Express, current affairs programme on Joy News that was aired on Monday, December 28, 2020.

“Whoever thought Malawi could ever have the court say that ‘no, no this is really fraudulent’ to order a re-run [of the election] and the opposition has won.

“Whoever thought in Kenya the court will say that ‘the evidence before us is heavy, we can’t allow this injustice to continue? Let the court process start,” he told the host of the programme to express confidence in his party's evidence.

He admitted, however, that a group of NDC bigwigs are of the view that the court process will come to nought because the Supreme Court has been packed by the President.

“In our history, we have never had the Supreme Court gone beyond 15 [judges]…the highest we’ve gotten to is 15. As of March, when we [Parliament] were vetting the others we took them to 19 and in this country nobody said anything.

“Today 11 of the Supreme Court judges were appointed by Nana Addo. I mean people just think this is nothing. It is [something],” he said.

He said his party will still proceed to court because whatever the outcome, Ghana’s democracy will be enriched.

“Whether the outcome goes well for you or doesn’t go well for you, it adds to the democratic credentials of the country. It becomes a precedent.

“I want to believe that our judges are also rational. They will have to be mindful of the consequences of whatever decision that they take because it becomes the norm thereafter and I want to believe that they will do the right thing,” he said.

NDC and its presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, are preparing to go to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, December, 29, to pray the apex court to order a recount of the presidential ballots.

A member of the NDC legal team, Abraham Amaliba, has revealed that the opposition party will also challenge the results declared and gazetted for some parliamentary seats.

The NDC and Mr Mahama believe the recently held presidential and parliamentary polls were not credible because they did not follow the due voter verification processes and EC officials swapped pink sheet figures to favour the incumbent.

According to the EC, Mr Mahama obtained 47.4% of the total votes cast, while Nana Akufo-Addo got 51.6% of the votes.