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"It was the politician in him that was speaking not the former president and indeed he was not addressing the nation, he was addressing party partisan," says the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako.

The renowned journalist was reacting to comments made by former President John Mahama in response to the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the compilation of a New Voters' Register.

The SC unanimously dismissed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) case against the Electoral Commission (EC) saying the EC is an independent body and will only be directed by the court if it acts contrary to law.

Their ruling also says the existing voter ID card and birth certificates cannot be used as proof of identity to register in the upcoming voter registration exercise.

Mahama's Take

In reaction to this, the largest opposition Flagbearer said "We are deeply disappointed and strongly disagree with the court over this outcome, which has confounded many legal experts and thrown the country into a state of confusion.

Our legal team is examining this decision even as we await the full judgement.

"It is worrying that the Court deferred the reasons for its decisions to the 15th of July, by which time the EC would have been two weeks into the registration exercise".

“We have been very clear in our minds that the decision to compile a new voters register was in pursuit of this long-held agenda, hence our efforts to stop the wholesale attempt to exclude vast sections of our population from the process to determine who leads them."

According to him, “this represents the handiwork of a desperate incumbent that on account of its very poor performance in government sees its political survival only through the prism of manipulation of the electoral process to exclude a section of Ghanaians who they suspect may not renew their mandate at the polls”

Kweku Baako, who was speaking on Joynews Newsfile programme said "when you do a content analysis of his (Mahama) speech supposed to be to the nation, it was more directed at party partisan; he rallied us into the realm of interrogating conspiracy theories; he played on the emotions of his supporters".

The Seasoned Journalist also had cause to express concern over comments made by the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, minutes after the Supreme Court's decision.