Election petition hearing: The forever groundbreaking submission by Tsatsu Tsikata

And I would like to credit all the statements: “The holder of such a public office cannot be held to account by being cross examined after she herself has given a witness statement then, my Lords, with the greatest respect, we would be posing grave dangers to the Republic.

Because the holders of important offices can shield themselves from accountability by saying in every case, that we would not allow ourselves to be cross examined and nobody can do anything about it.

And what I submitted earlier, which ties into this point that I am making is that if it were not for the fact that she is the representative who has sworn a witness statement on behalf of the first respondent, it will be opened to us to ask the court for subpoena to have her testify.

So, my lords, we respectfully submit that in the circumstances that we are face with here, with this particular holder of this particularly singular office that is supposed to make a determination that reflects the sovereign will of the voters of Ghana in an election which democracy is all about.

It is our respectful submission that constitutional obligation cannot be set aside by subsidiary legislation or by reliance on subsidiary legislation. It cannot. Every legislation that we talked about, CI 87, CI 47, and I mean none of that can set aside the sacred public duty of this chairperson. And the need to account for the public duty where the forum demands it. And my lords, this is the forum that demands it.”(Tsatsu, 2021)