Tsatsu exposed as being “arithmetically challenged”

Tsatsu Tsikata, Counsel for the National Democratic Congress in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition hearings on Thursday suffered another image blow when it was proved in court that he had gotten his mathematics wrong after he made a bold declaration that on the face of the affidavit of Dr Bawumia, the exhibits submitted by the petitioners could not be up to 11,842 and that indeed it was just 7,092.

On the 7th day of his cross examination of the lead witness of the petitioners, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata challenged Dr. Bawumia that on the basis of the numbers in the affidavit deposed to by Dr Bawumia, the exhibits could not be up to 11,842.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, however, insisted that, per the numbers in his affidavit, the total number of polling stations which was being challenged at the time and whose pink sheets were submitted to the court were 11,842.

However, Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata who showed brazen confidence, applied to the court for an audit of the numbers of exhibits as had been presented in the affidavit of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, from paragraphs 44 to paragraphs 67 to be done in open court to establish the case the 1st and 3rd respondents had made consistently that the number of exhibits could not be up to 11,842 and that the petitioners were indeed mathematically challenged.

Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata went on to quote the witness’ insistence on his 11,842 numbers and urged the court to quickly order for an audit of the numbers on the face of the pink sheet.

The application of Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata immediately received the support of Counsels for the other respondents, Tony Lithur, Counsel for John Mahama and James Quarshie Idun, Counsel for the Electoral Commission, who all emphasized the necessity of such an audit.

Counsel Tony Lithur disclosed that the issue of numbers had been critical to the respondents and that the joint affidavit of the 1st and 3rd respondents deposed to by Johnson Asiedu Nketiah had even indicated that the number of exhibits was far less than the petitioners were claiming.

Counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison agreed with the application and asked the court to quickly do what had been requested by Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata with confidence that their position would be vindicated by any such calculation.

Interestingly, as soon as Counsel Philip Addison supported the application, Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata began introducing more areas where he thought the court should look into, including a physical count of the exhibits and a confirmation from the registry on how many exhibits it had received and indicated that he could not proceed with his cross examination if those matters were not settled.

However, even before he had finished adding the new issues, Justice Baffoe Bonnie completed his additions on the face of the affidavit as had been requested by Tsatsu Tsikata and declared that indeed it added up to 11,842 as the petitioners had long held.

With Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata dumbfounded by the quick determination of his application in favor of the petitioners, Counsel Philip Addison thanked the Court for settling the matter and setting the records straight.

On the question of the physical exhibits received and Tsatsu Tsikata’s indication that he could not continue cross examination if the matter was not settled, Counsel Philip Addison wondered why the respondents had started the cross examination if they were indeed not sure of the number of exhibits they had received and why they had waited all this while and brought it up only when it was obvious they were bringing an end to their cross examination.

He again queried the lawyers of the respondents on why they didn’t cross check from the registry if they had been served with all the exhibits as the affidavit made it clear that the petitioners had attached 11,842 pink sheet exhibits.

Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata had for long insisted that the trial would expose the petitioners as being "arithmetically challenged" repeating this statement severally in his cross examination of the lead witness of the petitioners, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

However, the incidents on Thursday morning have rather exposed Mr Tsikata as the one who, in his own words, “is arithmetically challenged" as it was so easy to confirm the 11,842 number from the affidavit as was done by Justice Baffoe Bonnie in a matter of minutes.

The tally announced by Justice Baffoe Bonnie can be confirmed by all who have access to the affidavit of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. Paragraph 44 through to paragraph 67 detail the number of polling station pink sheet exhibits in each of the 24 exclusive categories in which the irregularities have been categorized to avoid double counting in the analysis.