EC chair should have mounted witness box during 2020 Election Petition-Mahama
“I humbly refer to Ghana’s 2020 elections as historic for the transparency, the credibility, the cost-effectiveness, the high turn-out, and the peaceful conduct that characterized it
Former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has insisted that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission should have mounted the witness box during the 2020 Presidential Election petition.
According to him, this would have enabled her to better prove the credibility of the last General Elections.
He further bemoaned how the NDCs election petition was dismissed coupled with the Supreme Court’s disallowance of the EC chair from mounting the witness box despite a precedent in that regard by Dr. Afari Gyan.
“The manner in which the Supreme Court dismissed our election petition was not fair. An election petition case has been heard in this country before. When Nana Akufo-Addo sent his 2012 election petition case to court, it was accepted. Afari Gyan responded to his questions,” he said.
“But when it got to our turn…we were not allowed to ask our questions. In 2012, Asiedu Nketiah was asked to testify. In 2020, he was called again to testify. In 2012, Afari Gyan was asked to mount the witness box. But in 2020, when Jean Mensa was asked to mount the witness box, she refused. I heard her saying the other time that the 2020 election is the best election Ghana has ever had. If she is convinced that it is the best election Ghana has ever had, she should have mounted the witness box,” he added.
Mr. Mahama made this statement in response to an address by Mrs. Jean Mensah, when he addressed the Divisional Chief of Prestea Himan, Nana Nteboah Prah, as part of his Thank You tour of the Western Region.
In a speech at the opening of the High-Level Meeting of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) in Winneba, on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, the Electoral Commissioner, Jean Mensa described the 2020 General election as historic.
According to the EC Boss, the process was so peaceful to the extent that the BBC described it as boring.
“I humbly refer to Ghana’s 2020 elections as historic for the transparency, the credibility, the cost-effectiveness, the high turn-out, and the peaceful conduct that characterized it.
“So orderly, so methodical, so calm were the polls on the 7th of December, 2020 that BBC could find no other way to describe our elections than boring,” she noted.
