Jean Mensa was biased towards Mahama – Witness tells Supreme Court

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia who has been picked as one of the witnesses by former President John Mahama in the ongoing election petition hearing, has told the Supreme Court that the chair of the Electoral Commission (EC) Jean Mensa was biased towards Mr Mahama in last year’s elections.

He said in his witness statement filed on Wednesday January 27 that the Commission’s Chair violated the constitution by being partial in the conduct of the polls.

“The Chairperson of 1st Respondent and 1st Respondents are also not required under Article 296 of the Constitution to be ‘biased either by resentment, prejudice or personal dislike’ in exercising any discretionary power, but they are required to exercise such powers ‘in accordance with due process of law’.

“The Chairperson of 1st Respondent, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa, allowed herself to be biased by her prejudice in favour of the 2nd Respondent, who appointed her in August 2018 and with whose wife Mrs Jean Adukwie Mensa has a close familial relationship. Mrs Mensa was thus , at all material times in the conduct of the her responsibilities, biased by prejudice in favour of the 2nd Respondent and against the Petitioner,” Mr Nketia said in his witness statement.

He further told the court that there has never been any election in which the 1st Respondent, the EC has admitted a catalogue of errors than in the 2020 presidential elections.

“In no previous Presidential Election in the Fourth Republic in Ghana has there been such a catalogue of admitted errors as in what happened after the 7th December 2020 Presidential elections.

“In all previous Presidential Elections, results collated at each constituency collation centre were transmitted directly by fax from 1st Respondent’s regional offices (without collation), to what is usually referred to as the ‘strongroom’ at its head office in Accra, and handed over to the representatives of the candidates, for them to scrutinize and then certify.

“In those previous Presidential Elections, when 1st Respondent declared the final results, they were based on the collated results from the constituencies which were duly certified by representatives of the candidates in the strong room.”