Supreme Court adjourns Election Petition case to February 1

The Supreme Court will return on February 1, 2021, to continue the hearing of the Election Petition case.

This follows a hearing by the 7-member panel today, to cross-examine statements presented by the first witness of the petitioner, John Dramani Mahama.

The witness, Johnson Asiedu Nketia had earlier accused the Electoral Commissioner, Jean Mensa of biases on the biases that she had a familial relationship with the first lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

At the witness box during today’s hearing however, 10 paragraphs of Mr. Nketia’s witness statement were objected to by Lawyer for the second respondent, Akoto Ampaw.

Akoto Ampaw noted that the statements by Mahama’s witness in these paragraphs (6, 7, 21, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 33 and 37), were scandalous, prejudicial, and not relevant on the pleadings of John Mahama’s Petition document.

Addressing the 7-member panel of Judges presided over by Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, he said,

“My Lord, we raise objections to certain paragraphs in the [witness] statement. They are not relevant nor based on the pleadings of their [Petitioners] petition, tends to unduly prejudice the party and are scandalous.”

He thus prayed the apex court to strike out the paragraphs.

Out of the 10 paragraphs; the court admitted 3 of them to remain whilst 7 of them were removed in part.

One of them was totally expunged from the witness statement.

More soon…