Mahama wanted to delay hearing with the 12 interrogatories— Oppong Nkrumah
Mahama wanted to delay hearing with the 12 interrogatories— Oppong Nkrumah
One of the spokespersons of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the election petition, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has insisted that the legal team of John Dramani Mahama attempted to delay the hearing of the case with its interrogatories application.
According to him, the interrogatories are irrelevant and a ploy by the petitioners to delay hearing of the petition.
Updating his fans and public on the pre- trial hearing of the elections petition on his Twitter handle today, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the legal team of the Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama attempted to delay the process with an application for leave to serve interrogatories on the EC.
“It was shot down because the questions were irrelevant,” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah stated.
He further claimed that lawyers of Former President Mahama came to the court unprepared.
“Asked to move to case management, JM’s lawyers are asking for time to propose the issues for a possible trial. Why do you come to court if you aren’t ready with your issues,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah queried.
The lawyers for John Mahama, led by Tsatsu Tsikata applied to the Supreme Court to serve 12 interrogatories on the Electoral Commission (EC).
Mr Mahama was seeking to compel the EC to provide answers to questions known in legal parlance as interrogatories.
The said interrogatories included the manner in which the results of the 2020 presidential polls were transmitted and the level of involvement of the National Communications Authority (NCA) in the process.
However, the lawyers for the Electoral Commission and the President opposed the application.
They argued that John Mahama and his legal team were using the “back door” to seek further information from the EC that were not captured in their petition.
Mr Akoto Ampaw, the lawyer for the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, described the application as a “fishing expedition”.
The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision dismissed the application.
The case was subsequently adjourned to tomorrow, Wednesday, January 20, 2021, for case management.
Source: www.spotonnews
