Election Petition: Mahama won’t be in the witness box – Lawyers

The petitioner in the ongoing election petition hearing at the Supreme Court, Mr John Dramani Mahama will not be in the witness box to be cross-examined, spokesperson for his lawyers in the case, Dr Dominic Ayine, has said.

He said, another official of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be the one to be in the witness box.

Asked whether Mr Mahama will be one of the witnesses to be in the witness box while speaking on the Good Evening Ghana programme Tuesday, January 26, Dr Ayine said “No, he won’t be one of them. He wasn’t involved in the Nitty-gritty of the elections. The party was involved in the election and one of the executives will be one of the witnesses.”

He added, “we don’t think we will call too many witnesses.”

His comments come after the Supreme Court on Tuesday, January 26 ordered the petitioner in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition, John Dramani Mahama, to file his witness statements and arguments in response to the preliminary objection raised by the respondents latest by Wednesday, January 27.

The court also expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the petitioner and warned it will take appropriate actions against him if he fails to comply with the order to file the witness statements and arguments by the given deadline.

These actions, the court said could include the dismissal of the petition.

The court ordered during its last sitting on Wednesday, January 20, that all parties file their witness statement by Thursday noon, an order the counsel for the petitioner, Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata contended was too short a time.

The petitioner had also filed a motion seeking a review of the ruling the court gave on the petitioner’s earlier application for interrogatories, but that motion was not granted.

Between the last sitting and today, the petitioners again filed a motion insisting on a review of the court’s ruling on the interrogatories and also to amend paragraph 28 of the original petition as well as add to it.

The court on Tuesday, January 26, did not grant any of the motions but rather ordered that its earlier orders be complied with. It is worthy to note that the 1st Respondent Electoral Commission of Ghana and the 2nd Respondent Akufo-Addo have filed their witness statements as was ordered by the court on January 20.

Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned to Thursday, January 28.