Election Petition: Petitioner prays to reopen his case

Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, a spokesperson for the Petitioner in the 2020 Presidential Election Petition trial was applying to reopen its case so as to subpoena the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) to testify.

Dr Ayine in a post-trial interview said, “we seek Mrs Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the EC to testify in the trial in her capacity as the Returning Officer for the 2020 General Elections not to compel a party to testify.”

The Supreme Court, after listening to the arguments from the Petitioner and the Respondents, fixed Tuesday, February 16, 2021, to rule on the motion, filed by the Petitioner seeking leave of the Court to reopen his case.

The Petitioner filed the motion to reopen his case for the purpose of issuing a subpoena on the EC’s chairperson.

Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, lead Counsel for the Petitioner, moving the motion said, “We are not asking for leave to adduce fresh evidence, as done in an appeal situation.

He said the nature of the application to reopen the case was based on certain representation.

Dr Ayine said there was nowhere in CI 99 that provides that a party could not seek to issue a subpoena to bring a witness to testify, adding that the CI 99 did not provide against compelling a witness to come and testify.

He alleged that as a team, they had made a case and wanted the Court to see the truth in the trial.

Mr Justin Amenuvor, the Lead Counsel for the EC, said they were opposed to the application to reopen their case.

He said the current application was not warranted by rule of law and procedure, adding that, the process filed was an abuse of the court’s process. On the alleged promise by petitioner’s counsel that the EC chairperson had promised them a cross-examination, counsel said, “It is our submission that no representation has been made to the Petitioner and it was unfair to blame the first respondent’s Chairperson”.

Former President Mahama had filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking an annulment of the Presidential election results and a re-run of the election between him and Nana Akufo-Addo, who is the second respondent in the petition.

The Petition is also seeking an injunction directing the 1st Respondent, the Electoral Commission to proceed to conduct a second election between the petitioner and the 2nd respondent as candidates, as required under Articles 63 (4) and (5) of the 1992 constitution.