We are shocked at the SC's timelines for the Election Petition trial - NDC Spokesperson

Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, a Spokesperson for the Petitioner in the Election 2020 Petition case, says she was shocked at the roadmap set out by the Supreme Court.

According to the former Minister of Justice, she was in court for “pretrial and case management, unfortunately, that was not what happened”.

She said they were in court today to ascertain how the trial was going to be conducted.

Speaking to the media after the court proceedings, Mrs Appiah Oppong said “there was no discussions on how the case should proceed, so we are quite shocked.

“We only have just one day to prepare our witness statements. I have filed a review application over the interrogatories and other applications, which had not been attended to.”

She said all those processes would go a long way as to how the trial would be conducted.

“All the objections raised by us is grounded in law. Processes that we have sought in court had not been dealt with. How do we start the trial?

“If we were not prepared, we would not have come to court. We are going to read the orders and know the next line of action which addresses the issues raised in our memorandum of issues,” she said.

Timelines enumerated by the Supreme Court are as follows: (1) The petitioner and witness shall file witness statements with exhibits if any by the noon of Thursday, January 21, 2020.

(2) The witness statements shall be served on the counsel for the respondents by the close of Thursday, January 21.

(3) The respondents and the witnesses if any shall file their witness statements with exhibits if any by the close of the day on Friday, January 22, 2020

(4) (a) The first and second respondents shall file submissions on the preliminary objections raised to the petition by 12 noon of January, 22.

(b) The Registrar shall ensure service of submissions by close of Friday, January 22.

(c) The Petitioner shall file any response to the submission of the preliminary objection by Monday, Jan 25.

(d) The Registrar shall ensure service of the petitioner’s response by close of Monday, January 25.

(e) Ruling on the preliminary objection will be incorporated in the final judgement of the court.