The Supreme Court has again adjourned the Presidential Election petition hearing to Tuesday, 26th January 2021, on the basis of case management, to allow for some statements and memorandum of issues to be filed by the petitioners and the respondents.
Communicating to both parties through the Justice of the court, the court averred that, the decision came about to allow both parties involved file memorandum of issues.
This comes on the back of the NDC filing to the court to review the ruling yesterday, where they were denied the request to question the Electoral Commission Chair, Jean Nana Mensah to answer some 12 question which they posit as relevant with regards to the petition.
The court also in setting out the timelines stated that, it would not tolerate time-wasting, adding that it took a cue from the 2012 election petition which went on for a long time.
In its orders today, the court touching on the mode of trial, asked for the petitioner and the witness to file witness statements with exhibits if any by noon of Thursday, 21st January 2020. It also asked for the witness statements to be filed on the counsel for the respondents by close of day on Thursday, January 21 amongst others.
“The respondents and their witnesses if any, shall file their witness statements with exhibits, if any by close of day on Friday, January 22, 2021. The first and second respondents shall file their submissions on the preliminary objections raised to the petition by 12 noon on Friday, January 22, 2021.
“The registrar shall ensure service of the preliminary objections by close of day, Friday, January 22, 2021. The petitioner shall file any response to the submission of the preliminary objections by noon on Monday, January 25, 2021. The registrar shall ensure service of the petitioner’s response by close of day on Monday, January 25, 2021.”
The Court then indicated that, the ruling on the preliminary objections would be incorporated in the judgement of the court adding that, “the petitioner shall file any objective to the court by Monday 25th January, 2020.”
Speaking on the the issues with regards to the timelines given to file and submit statements and the preliminary objections the court raised, lead counsel for the NDC legal team, Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata, lamented the orders as unfair and one that need more clarification.
Speaking on the court’s decision this morning, a legal practitioner, Lawyer Sampson Lardey Ayenini, advised the legal team for the NDC, to divide and form teams to handle the witness statements as required by the court while the other team prepares the memorandum of issues in order to be timely in their dealings.
Prior to today’s sitting, the court yesterday denied the NDC’s request to serve interrogatories to the Electoral Commission Chairperson who is also the first respondent in the Presidential Election petition, Mrs. Jean Mensah, to admit that there were errors in the results she declared on the 9th of December 2020 and also provide answers to some particular questions.
