‘Judgment Day’; Mahama to go or Akufo-Addo to come?

Ghana's President, John Mahama, first respondent in the election petition case, will today know if he will remain president for the remainder of his four-year tenure.

The nine-member panel of justices of the country's Supreme Court will either give Mr. Mahama’s presidency a ‘clean gavel of health’ with its judgment today or use the same constitutional symbol of authority, to throw a wrench in his works.


On the flipside, the 2012 presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is the first petitioner in the case, will eventually know whether he is to be consigned to opposition for the next three years or more, or whether providence will smile at him and, by consequence, take over from Mr. Mahama as president, after the apex Court pronounces its final verdict on the long-drawn case today.


There is also the possibility of a re-run of the 2012 presidential poll if the Court so finds that necessary.


The Petitioners – Nana Akufo-Addo; his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Obetsebi-Lamptey – resorted to Ghana’s apex Court to seek redress on last year’s presidential poll results, which, they argue, was not representative of valid votes cast.


They claim the elections were fraught with irregularities and malpractices which robbed Nana Akufo-Addo of victory.

Besides President Mahama, the Electoral Commission and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) are the other respondents in the case.


The verdict could be a unanimous 9-0 or splits of 8-1; 7-2; 6-3 or 5-4 either in favour or against either side.


Ahead of today’s verdict, the various security agencies have put in place measures toward confronting and quelling any post-verdict mayhem.


Some roads around the apex Court have also been blocked as part of security measures.


Unaccredited persons are also barred from breaching a 100-metre radius security cordon around the Court.

Still as part of security measure put in place for Thursday’s hearing, close to 450 specially trained Police Officers have been deployed to man possible flashpoints while over 30,000 other officers have been deployed nationwide.


The Office of National Security is also working in tandem with the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana National Fire Service, Immigration Service and all other security agencies to ensure maximum security and foil any potential threats.


Ahead of today’s ruling, there have been a deluge of peace messages from religious bodies, civil society organisations and political parties to encourage the parties in the case to accept whichever verdict is pronounced by the Bench.