For the sake of many a Ghanaian without adequate comprehension of the compulsory request by the Supreme Court to have the controversially contested "pink sheets" audited, I am going to play total ignorance in this write-up. By coming down to the level of understanding by such persons who are mostly of the NDC faith, I shall be able to lift them out of the intellectual wilderness in which they are sorry to say, shamefully stalled.
To start with, we should find out how the pink sheets were served on the respondents. Like a summons and complaint that can be served by the plaintiff after the documents have been stamped and sealed by the court or by an appointed person, that is, the court's clerk, how were the pink sheets served? There are other methods of serving summons and complaints depending on the jurisdictions under which the case has taken place. However in Ghana , summons and complaints are principally served by the two methods stated above and mostly, by the court clerk.
Same as summons is served, so presumably were the pink sheets. I understand the alleged 11,842 pink sheets with corresponding number of affidavits were copied into fifteen sets. The court, each member of the nine-member panel Supreme Court judges sitting on the case and each respondent (The Electoral Commission, President Mahama and the NDC) was served a set of the copies.
All the sets meant for the mentioned parties were delivered to the Supreme Court in special delivery boxes, referenced as to which documents and how many there are in each box but not specifying who must have which boxes or set. Anyone with a bit of corporate firm or Court knowledge will know what the boxes are and how they are prepared to be served.
Before proceeding any further, let me pause to ask if the sets for the court and each of the nine-member panel judges were complete, that is, came up to 11,842 as claimed by the plaintiffs (Nana Akufo Addo, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey)? Did the Electoral Commission receive a full set or like her fellow respondents she also received less than that amount?
Anyway, when the registry of the Supreme Court received the entire copies, the registrar must hopefully have issued the plaintiffs a receipt, detailing how many sets and the quantity of each set that the registry has received. Furthermore, the court registry arranged the delivery of the pink sheets as contained in their special complete boxes to each party as due. Why is it that those delivered to all the nine judges, the court and the Electoral Commission are complete but not those to President Mahama and the NDC?
Who do the Counsels for President Mahama and the NDC (Tony Lithur and Tsatsu Tsikata) think they are fooling if not themselves? The following are a few mind-boggling questions I require Tsatsu Tsikata and Tony Lithur to answer.
1. Did they immediately lodge a formal complaint with the court that they had not received 11,842 copies of pink sheets covering the alleged areas where electoral irregularities of all sorts had taken place when the court or the plaintiff delivered the documents to them?
2. If they did complain as in (1), what did the court do? Where is a copy of their official complaint letter? Where is a copy of the letter from the court attesting they did complain and what was the court's response?
3. If they did not complain immediately as in (1), why did they not?
4. Why are Tony Lithur and Tsatsu Tsikata complaining about the non receipt of the pink sheets in the middle of the hearing of the case?
5. Have the Counsels for the two mentioned respondents (President Mahama and NDC) not intentionally destroyed some of the pink sheets to find an excuse to drag the case needlessly?
6. Has Tony Lithur presumably not served notice that should the outcome of the count of the pink sheets not tally with the number (11,842) allegedly given to them, he will be obliged to cross-examine Dr Bawumia again?
7. Assuming they did not receive a total of 11,842 pink sheets, should they not rather blame the Court that delivered them than NPP as it is mockingly the supposition of the entire NDC family?
8. If the Court did not deliver all the pink sheets to the NDC and President Mahama, was it a deliberate act, or unintentional? Whatever it is who bears the consequence?
Mysteriously, the Lead Counsels for the respondents have until today not disproved the allegation that there were mass irregularities that impacted the results. The essence of the court case is not only about how many pink sheets that were affected but also, about how the malpractices, omissions, commissions and irregularities affected the election results.
The NDC are known crooks so if they have chucked some of the pink sheets away with intent to prolong the case unnecessarily, then it's their own cup of tea. They will never have their devilish way. The whole world is watching the court proceedings.
For how long is the Supreme Court going to allow Tsatsu Tsikata to cross-examine Dr Bawumia, until Thy Kingdom come? What a joke! Draw the curtain on his boring one-way-one-question cross-examinations. Struggling and trying, he has not been able to prove to his supporters his exaggerated worth of a legal "Quote Quote" luminary. If he has not been able to do it within the seven wasted days, he should not think he can ever do it no matter how long he takes.
The Supreme Court must be seen to be doing the job professionally as it is expected of them. They should not allow Tsatsu to take them down with him. As thieves as the NDC are, who believes them when they come up with such crap?
The Electoral Commission, President Mahama and the NDC can tickle themselves and laugh. If they knew the intensity of the wrath of God looming on them, they would have supplicated God for forgiveness of sins instead of adding onto their sinful burden.
Lest I forget, which pink sheets are they going to count? Surely, it is those of the court but not that of either Tony Lithur or Tsatsu Tsikata. What about the details on the softcopy (CD-Rom)?
"Tsatsu aye hot"!
Rockson Adofo
