Expedition doesn’t sacrifice justice – Oppong Nkrumah to NDC

Lawyers for President Akufo-Addo in the ongoing election petition case have rejected claims that the Supreme Court is sacrificing justice for expedition.

It comes after the lead counsel for former President John Mahama told the judges in open court on Wednesday not to sacrifice justice for expedition.

“The timeline that is provided for us to have witness statements does not seem to be justified… I do know about the schedule provided, but I also know that your lordships are here to administer justice and that justice should not be sacrificed for the expedition,” Tsatsu Tsikata said in court.

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Thursday, a spokesperson for the president on the petition Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the judges are minded by the time framework set out for election petition as contained in the CI99.

“The issues are in simple terms, after all the long talks, the court will determine these are the real issues we should talk about. It’s part of the court process to expedite trial and expedition doesn’t sacrifice justice. Every lawyer knows this,” he said.

Meanwhile, Member of the NDC’s legal team in the ongoing election petition Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah Oppong says the Supreme is being unfair to the NDC.

“let no one say we are not prepared. If we were not prepared we wouldn’t have come to court, we wouldn’t have filed the petition in the first place. All we are saying is processes we have served, processes we have filed, processes that need to be dealt with have not been dealt with. How do we start a trial that is all we are saying.”

“So, if you ask us to come to court on the 26th to commence a trial, how are we going to start a trial when our notice to admit facts have not been dealt with? she quizzed.

She added “out interrogatories, our application for review of interrogatories has been pushed to a date after the trial has started. It doesn’t really make sense to us, unfortunately, we have to say this.”