Dr. Dominic Ayine, a former Deputy Attorney General under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and the Bolgatanga East Member of Parliament, has intimated that, he is hopeful the Supreme Court would rule on the election petition of John Mahama in two weeks.
Speaking during a panel discussion on the election petition and its related issues, Dr Ayine said he expects the panel sitting on the petition to expedite the process leading to the final judgement just as it was done in Kenya.
“For time to begin to run, they have to be served and personally too, in the case of the Electoral Commission because it is an independent institution, any principal officer can be served with the petition and receive it.
“But in the case of His Excellency the President, as the second respondent, he must be personally served. I hope that the panel in this case will find during the case management a more expeditious way of getting us into a shorter period. In fact, I don’t want us to go 42 days, that is too long, the Kenyans did it in two weeks.”
Speaking also on the panel, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, a former Attorney General under former president J.A Kufuor and Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada, called for the prosecution of electoral officials found to have engaged in electoral fraud during the elections.
“It is not only people who come to commit offences who are held liable but even officials of the Electoral Commission could also be held liable, it is about time we put some of them before court.”
Touching on Former President John Dramani Mahama request for a rerun of the 2020 elections, at a time he told his supporters that he won the polls yet they were rigged by the Electoral Commission (EC), he posited that, the NDC flagbearer must say sorry to Ghanaians for making such utterances.
Mr Ayikoi Otoo said that, if the Presidential Candidate of the NDC was convinced that he won the elections, he should have asked the Supreme Court to declare him winner and not to have called for a rerun of the elections.
Also speaking, Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner, on his part called for the amendment of electoral laws to allow for respondents in election petitions to be served electronically.
The NDC on Tuesday, 29th December, 2020 officially filed a petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the 7 December presidential election result declared by the Electoral Commission (EC).
According to the NDC, the petition details serious violations of the 1992 Constitution by the Electoral Commission and its chairperson and returning officer for the presidential election, Jean Adukwei Mensa, in the conduct of their constitutional and legal responsibilities.
It seeks among others, a declaration from the Supreme Court to the effect that, the purported declaration of the results of the 2020 Presidential Election on 9 December 2020 is unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
