The President of the nine-member panel of Justices hearing the election petition case, Justice William Atuguba, on Wednesday poked fun at the Chairman of the Electoral Commission for having asked the main opposition New Patriotic Party to resort to the Court to prove its suspicion that the 2012 presidential result was rigged. Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, before declaring the results of the 2012 presidential poll on Sunday December 10, 2013 advised the NPP to ?go to Court? to seek redress over its reservations concerning the collation of results and as well as the voting process in certain parts of the country. The party acceded to the advice and filed a petition at the Supreme Court within the 21-day remit as stipulated by the Constitution for a legal challenge of that sort, making it the first such election petition in Ghana?s history. After 46 days of hearing the substantive case, Justice Atuguba on Wednesday July 17, 2013 said: ?At long last the battle of evidence has ended?. His comment sparked gales of laughter in the Court room. In the milieu of the convivial atmosphere created within the Court room by the lightsome comment, Justice Atuguba turned to Dr. Afari-Gyan, the last witness to testify in the case and mirthfully told the EC boss that he hoped he has realised that telling people ?to go to court, go to court is not easy?. There have been 46 days of court room drama and 91 days of the entire process since the Petitioners ? Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and their party Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey ? filed the petition. The respondents in the case are President John Mahama, the Electoral Commission and the governing National Democratic Congress. The hearing saw two people sentenced to different jail terms for criminal contempt. While Journalist Ken Kuranchie was sentenced to 10 days for what his newspaper?s attempt to justify a description of the Bench as ?hypocritical and selective?, the other Contemnor, an abjectly apologetic Stephen Atubiga got three days for vowing on radio that the NDC will not hand over power to the NPP even if the Supreme Court pronounced a verdict in that regard.
Source-RadioXYZ
