Accra, Jan. 14, GNA – The Supreme Court says it has made arrangements to have proceedings of the 2020 Election Petition telecast live on national television.
Professor Nii Ashie Kotey, a member of the seven-member panel, said the Supreme Court decided on its own to allow for a live telecast of proceedings, saying, it was in the laws.
Former President John Dramani Mahama, the 2020 Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), had requested that the Apex Court allowed the proceedings to be telecast live.
Mr. Mahama is praying the Court to annul the presidential election results and organise a “second election” between him and President Nana Addo.
President Nana Addo and the EC, through their lawyers filed their respective responses.
Former President Mahama ahead of the hearing of the petition, prayed the Supreme Court, through a motion to amend the Election Petition he filed challenging validity of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the winner of the December Presidential Election.
The Former President is praying the court to correct an error or a “mistake” in the election petition.
The mistake, as stated in the motion was in relief (f) of the election petition.
The election petition, filed on December 30, last year, stated the first respondent (1st) as the Electoral Commission (EC), with the second respondent (2nd) as being President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
However, relief (f) seeks the court to order a rerun between Mr Mahama and the first respondent, which, as stated in the petition, turned out to be the EC.
Relief (f) is seeking “an order of mandatory injunction directing the first respondent to proceed to conduct a second election with petitioner and first respondent as the candidates as required under Articles 63(4) and (5) of the 1992 Constitution.”
The Court, presided over by the Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, directed the petitioners to file the amended processes by 1600 hours today Wednesday January 14.
The seven-member panel asked the respondents to also file their responses to the amended processes by Friday, January 15, this year, by 1600 hours.
The Court held that the amendment did not in any way affect the substance contained in the petition.
The apex Court of the land adjourned the matter to Tuesday, January 19, for pre-trial.
The legal team for President Nana Akufo-Addo was led by Akoto Ampaw, while the team for Mr Mahama was led by Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, with Mr Justice Amenuvor representing the Electoral Commission.
The former President Mahama, came to court in the company of Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, the Vice Presidential Candidate of the NDC, and Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the National Chairman of the NDC, among others.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is the Second Respondent in the trial, was represented in court by Mr Peter Mac Manu, the Campaign Manager for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2020 General Election.
He was accompanied by some members of the Party, including Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Mr Henry Nana Boakye, the National Youth Organizer.
The Electoral Commission, the First Respondent, was represented by its Chairperson, Mrs Jean Mensa.
GNA