Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who speaks for President Nana Akufo-Addo in the ongoing 2020 Election Petition Hearing, has likened the application by John Mahama for interrogatories to a fishing expedition.
The former Information Minister said that the ploy by lawyers for the petitioner is just an attempt to delay the process and while at that, find the best case they can take to the court as it appears they are confused on which exact issue to contend.
“Respondents have listed what they want to do and we have a fair idea of what it takes to contend this case. Now, if they claim that they need to go back to the interrogatories before they can agree to the issues that have been set out and prepare their witness statement, what it means is that their application for interrogatories was a fishing expedition. That what they were doing was to use it to explore what issues they can go to the court with,” he said.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah was speaking to a section of the media at the Supreme court after proceedings for the Tuesday, January 20, 2021 hearing ended.
He explained that the court agreed with them that it will no longer tolerate tactics by the petitioner to drag the process, calling for them to move to the substantial issues of the petition and stop moving the goal post.
“They have been very clear to the Ghanaian public that Mr. Mahama won this election. You have an opportunity in court to prove that. Now Mr. Mahama abandons that and moves it to a new thing of nobody got 50%,” he said.
He explained further that "They are looking for a media spectacle so that Mr. Maham can continue to remain very relevant in the NDC and in the public space, and run again in 2024."
John Mahama is in court challenging the results of the 2020 election by the Electoral Commission which announced Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the winner of the elections.
Although Mahama never conceded defeat, it did not stop Nana Akufo-Addo from being sworn into office for the second time as president.