Fallouts have been swift to the verdict of the Supreme Court, which unanimously dismissed the election petition brought forward by the Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama.
According to the court “the petitioner did not demonstrate in any way how the errors affected the declaration of the election. We have therefore no reason to order a re-run. We accordingly dismiss the petition”
Instead of gaining sympathy from their supporters, there have been agitations from the grassroots, demanding accountability from the party leadership.
Notable among their grievances is the failure of the party leadership to police the ballot, as spelt out by the Supreme Court in the judgment. Justice Kwesi Ann Yeboah reading the judgment, described as fanciful the testimonies given by Mr. Mahama’s witnesses, Rojo Mettle Nunoo and Kpesah Whyte, the two men who were charged by the party to protect their interest at the EC headquarters.
But to the chagrin of these supporters, Mr. Mahama at his much-awaited press confab in Accra yesterday hailed Rojo and Kpessah Whyte for their sterling testimonies that according to him exposed the preconceived agenda of the EC against the NDC.
The Court said “As for the other two witnesses, that is petitioners witness, PW2 and 3; Dr. Kpessah Whyte and Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, the little said about their testimonies relative to the issues at stake, the better.
It further explained why it had chosen the word fanciful to describe the narration given by he two men when they mounted the box.
“They recounted the fanciful tale of how the chairperson refused to head their complaints on some irregularities they noticed as some of the collation forms which came from the regions”.
“We describe this evidence as fanciful because, despite this alleged protest, they went ahead to verify and certify 13 of 16 regional collation sheet” he said.
On the heels of this judgment, supporters who earlier had high hopes of a possible run-off, took to some social media platforms, blaming party leadership of lying to them about winning the election.
They have therefore challenged party leadership to provide the rank and file with figures it collated during the last election
