Election Petition: Cross examination comes only after evidence in chief - Oppong Nkrumah

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, a Spokesperson for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Second Respondent in the 2020 Presidential Petition trial, has said one can only cross-examine a witness after his or her evidence in chief has been given in a trial.

He said the Court has already ruled that a party could not be compelled to adduce evidence.

Mr. Oppong Nkrumah who was speaking at the post-trial interview said cross-examination comes after there has been a supply of evidence in chief. He said counsel for the respondents have raised a number of reasons why they opposed the application, indicating that the position of the law does not support the argument made by the Petitioner.

He said the reason why the respondents were saying it was a piece of fresh evidence, was because there could be something that was unavailable to the Petitioner, which he was now making available to the court.

He said Mrs Jean A. Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, the first respondent has indicated that she was disqualified because she was a party in the case.

He said if there was an indication to subpoena a witness, the practice has been that usually there would be a third party, who has some information that could help the Petitioner’s case.

“Here is a case that the Petitioner has brought a party to court and is hoping that the party will get into the box and give evidence to help his case, but the party outsmarted him and has taken a superior tactic and had said, she will not get into the box and if this is all the Petitioner have to tell the court, let the court judge based on that,” he said.

The Supreme Court after listening to the arguments from the Petitioner and the Respondents fixed Tuesday, February 16, 2021, to rule on the motion filed by the Petitioner seeking leave of the court to reopen his case.

The Petitioner filed the motion to reopen his case for the purpose of issuing a subpoena to the EC chairperson to testify.

Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, Counsel for the Petitioner moving the motion said “We are not asking for leave to adduce fresh evidence, as done in an appeal situation.

Mr. Justin Amenuvor, the Counsel for the EC said they were opposed to the application to reopen the petitioner’s case.

He said the current application was not warranted by rule of law and procedure, adding that, the process filed was an abuse of the court processes.

Former President Mahama has filed a Petition at the Supreme Court seeking an annulment of the Presidential election results and a re-run of the election between him and Nana Akufo-Addo, who is the second Respondent in the petition.

The Petition is also seeking an injunction directing the 1st Respondent, the EC to proceed to conduct a second election between the petitioner and the 2nd respondent as candidates, as required under Articles 63 (4) and (5) of the 1992 constitution.