Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that he filed the 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 the Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts, 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.
He, however, 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.
“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.
“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.
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.
Source: graphiconline.com
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You see your life? You are a deep fake leader! A disgrace to this country. You incited your members that you had won and refused to accept the results. Now you are try to save face after ypu lost your senseless case embarrassingly. Apologize for scandalizing the supreme court of Ghana. Jimijimi, woyale! For you to come to power again? Tofiakwa! God forbid!
Is this man genuine? Ghana made a BIG mistake in 2009-2016 by voting again sine 1992 to NDC. He does not even know what he is doing? Lead ***barred word*** soldiers to the slaughter! NEVER AGAIN!
TRY IT NEXT TIME AND YOU WILL SUFFER A TERRIBLE FATE THAN THAT OF DISGRACED PUTIN!
Ah, ah, ah! Indeed NDC is Ghana's COVID-19 and Rusia-Ukraine war!
But you propagated the violence yourself, so that means you went to court to stop yourself. Couldn't you have saved us all the trouble and waste by advising yourself you won't go that route again? OH JDM hmmm! you're an enigma.
You can say this only to the marines, not to the good people of Ghana. Clearly, if you feed your party's foot soldiers with a lot of lies and malicious propaganda in the absence of a hopeful political message, it boils up over time and backfires to haunt you beyond control. That is exactly what occurred. The NDC would be wise to refrain from engaging in excessive insinuated mischief in its electoral campaign. Otherwise, the NDC must be wary of the next major setback, which will be a tremendous loss of credibility and the party's ability to form any government at all.
WHY IS THIS MAN SO HUNGRY FOR POWER. WHAT DID HE WANT THAT HE DID NOT GET WHEN HE WAS A DISTRICT OFFICER, VICE-PRESIDENT AND FINALLY PRESIDENT FOR 7 YEARS. EEIII, HE WILL SELL GHANA OOOO IF HE IS GIVEN THE CHANCE OOOO. YOOOO
Look at the face of a c0rrupt liar? Greedy selfish man......