The Supreme Court says the second and third witnesses for the petitioner in the ongoing election petition hearing did not help the cause of the petitioner, former President John Mahama.
“As for the other two witnesses, that is Petitioner’s Witness PW2 and 3; Dr Kpessa-Whyte and Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, the little said about their testimonies relative to the issues at stake, the better. They recounted the fanciful tale of how the chairperson refused to heed their complaints on some irregularities they noticed on some of the collation forms which came from the regions,” Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah said.
He explained that: “We describe this evidence as fanciful because, despite this alleged protest, they went ahead to verify and certify 13 of 16 regional collation sheets.”
The court said Dr Michael Kpessa Whyte and Mr Mettle-Nunoo should blame themselves for leaving the National Collation Centre (Strong room),
“In fact, regarding the testimonies of PW2 and 3, if their evidence is to be believed then they have to blame themselves for abandoning their post at the National Collation Centre at a time the verification and certification of the result were ongoing.”
According to the panel, they were stationed at the strong room to observe the collation process on behalf of the 2020 NDC presidential candidate, Mr Mahama but they did not do their job.
Thus, they must accept the consequences if they left their post for reasons other than strictly observing the collation process.
“Out of the three witnesses [the petitioner called], the one whose testimony appeared to have relevance to the issue as stake was Johnson Asiedu Nketia (PW1). He was in fact the star witness of the petitioner. His testimony vividly explained the reason the petitioner is in court.
“While the testimony of PW1 [Johnson Asiedu Nketia] was emphatic, the testimonies of PW2 [Dr Kpessa Whyte] and 3 [Rojo Nunoo] were in respect of alleged irregularities in the figures or data on some of the collation forms that they sighted in the strong room but after which they ultimately signed or certified.
“Notwithstanding all these allegations of misunderstandings with the staff of the 1st Respondent in the strong room and the fact that they were absent during the declaration they did not give any indication as to how these happenings affected the final results announced by the 1st Respondent,” Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah said when reading the final judgement on Mr Mahama’s petition on Thursday.
He continued: “Having signed or certified these forms, the witnesses, particularly, PW3, cannot turn round to talk of irregularities in the said forms. Their testimonies were, therefore, of no relevance to the issues set down for determination and we find them unworthy whatsoever in the settlement of the issues.”
