Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that he filed the 2020 presidential election petition at the Supreme Court to calm the charged political atmosphere to avoid electoral violence.
The petition, he said, was also to test the legal right of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“The atmosphere was quite charged, a few of our people took to the streets. There was a threat of violence and we didn’t want to go down that path, so it was better to use what the Constitution has given us.
“Once we filed the suit, I noticed that it calmed everybody and of course we went and got 7:0 on every issue that we raised,” he stated.
Mr Mahama stated this while addressing the United States Chapter of the NDC at Bentley University on Sunday [March 27, 2022].
Anomalies
Touching on the conduct of the 2020 elections, Mr Mahama said a number of anomalies occurred in the elections which affected the results.
That, he said, resulted in anger among supporters of the NDC.
“We have all done elections before and at the printing press, all the political parties are supposed to send agents to the printing press. We sit there from the time they start printing until we finish.
“When they finish, we all tally how many ballots they were asked to print. We all look at the numbers and everything and if we are satisfied, then all the agents sign a certificate of completion to say that we are satisfied, that it tallies with the number you were asked to print,” he said.
Mr Mahama said that was what happened at the printing press and all the agents left after the printing of the ballot papers.
Extra ballot papers
However, he said one of the NDC’s agents had to go back for his laptop bag, only for him to see "millions" of ballot papers being printed.
{teetme}“When he asked why they were printing extra ballot papers, they said the EC had asked them to print. Out of frustration, they said they were doing that in case there was a second round. But seven people will not go for second round. Ballot papers for a second round is only for two people, the top two. No proper explanation on why those ballot papers were printed was given.{/tweetme}
“Some of the people were seen later carrying ballot papers and we reported them to the police. Up till date, nobody has been charged or prosecuted for carrying those extra ballot papers,” he stated.
“These are the things that happened in the elections and so we thought the elections weren’t free and fair and so we went to the Supreme Court. One, to test our legal right and then second, to also calm the atmosphere,” he added.
Mr Mahama said he, therefore, decided to rely on the provisions of the 1992 Constitution by going to the apex court to resolve the matter.
The seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, by a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition on March 4, 2021, on the grounds that it lacked merit, Mr Mahama said.
Read also: Why the Supreme Court dismissed Mahama's 2020 presidential election petition (FULL JUDGMENT)
Judicial reforms
Mr Mahama alleged that the country’s judicial system was being manipulated by political powers and, therefore, called for judicial reforms.
He stated that the NDC party had a problem with the Judiciary, hence the need for urgent judicial reforms.
“We do have problems with the Judiciary, I must say. I think that it is necessary for some internal reforms to take place there. It is necessary for the Chief Justice or whoever is responsible to make some reforms.
“Most of the governance institutions have been politicised. I give the example of the Judiciary. It is only in Ghana that a Supreme Court will make a decision that a birth certificate is not proof of citizenship,” he said.
“There are many such funny judgements that have been given. I remember at one time, our colleague Professor Raymond Atuguba said that from research he had done, judges tended to give their judgements in favour of the political party or leader that appointed them.
According to him, Prof. Atuguba was subjected to a whirlwind of indignation by the Judiciary, “but if you bring it down to what is happening today, and you look at it and see who appointed who, you will find that there was some truth in the research.
“The thing is, our Constitution gives the security of tenure to judges. Once you have been appointed, you cannot be removed. That is why we give security of tenure so that you will have the courage no matter who appointed you to give judgement according to your conscience. That is what our judges should do. They must rise to the occasion,” Mr Mahama stated.
Judicial brushes
In October last year, the former President alleged that the 2020 election verdict by the Supreme Court had been determined even before the case was presented.
He said this in an interview as part of his ‘Thank You’ tour of the Central Region on Cape FM<$> in Cape Coast.
Again, after the Supreme Court’s ruling on deputy speakers’ voting rights, Mr Mahama criticised the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that deputy speakers could vote while presiding.
He described the verdict by the court as “shocking but not surprising”, saying it set a dangerous precedent for the country’s parliamentary procedure.
He said the ruling was “an unfortunate interpretation for convenience that sets a dangerous precedent of judicial interference in parliamentary procedure for the future”.
Source: graphiconline.com
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You can say this only to the marines, but not to the good people of Ghana. Clearly, if you feed the foot-soldiers of your party extensively, in the absence of a hopeful political message, with lies and malacious propaganda, it boils up over time and backfires to haunt you beyond control. And that's exactly what happened. The NDC is better advised to do away with the excessive inscenated mischieves in the political party's campaigns for votes. The NDC must therefore be mindful of the next severe blow, which is a massive loss of credibility and the ability of the party to form any government at all.
The was violence on the streets because you told your people that you have won and the EC has given it to Nana Addo. Even after the court confirmed that you lost, you still maintained the same stands and even bastardized the judges and the supreme court. Up till now, you have not congratulated Nana Addo and you have also been doing everything to undermine him and cause problems in the country.
You and your NDC fellows went to court to stage a comedy. That was why you had no proof to support your complaints. Empty headed NDC folks only know how to make allegations to make people have hatred for the accused. That was the method they employed in killing the 3 high court judges.
To test NDC’s legal right? What the heck of wasting our time, energy and resources. You went to court just to test what we all knew was a right but misplaced one. The nation Ghana continues to waste our resources paying you hefty sums of money and you go around talking trash. Each time you speak, you shoot yourself in your foot so better ***barred word*** rather expose yourself all the more.
Because of your selfish interest you waisted everyone's time. F0.0lish c0rrupt greedy man. our country is just wasting money on you and your family.