Dr Dominic Ayine, a spokesperson for former president John Mahama in the ongoing election petition hearing, believes they will be smiling on judgment day if “in fairness” their evidence in court on Tuesday (2 February) is anything to go by.
Speaking during a post-trial interview, Ayine said they are happy with the outcome of the cross-examination of their second witness Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte.
“So we are here today in a very high spirit. I can see from the faces and body language of Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman and my chairman that we had a wonderful day in court and I am sure that in fairness if this evidence is anything to go by, on judgement day we will be smiling,” he said.
Harassment of witness
He said their second witness Dr Kpessa-Whyte was subjected to harassment during cross-examination by some of the judges and counsel for the first respondent.
“If you saw the line of cross-examination by lawyer for the first respondent and then unfortunately some of the Justices of the Supreme Court indicating that Dr Kpessa-Whyte ought to have been present when the conversation took place, that was rather unfortunate,” Dr Ayine said.
“And you saw some of the scenes that played out in court today, where the witness was being harassed left-right-centre, because his evidence, clearly was against the narrative of the Electoral Commission and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s lawyers have been trying to put out that both of them left because they noticed that their candidate was losing,” he added.
Cross-examination
Dr. Kpessa-Whyte was on Tuesday grilled by lawyers of the 1st respondent (Electoral Commission) and 2nd respondent (President Akufo-Addo), in a bid to discredit him and the case of the petitioner.
Dr Kpessa-Whyte was one of two members of the petitioner’s political party (National Democratic Congress), who represented him (petitioner) at the EC’s National Collation Centre during the 7 December elections.
During cross-examination, Dr Kpessa-Whyte sought to indicate that just before the chairperson of the Electoral Commission and returning officer for the presidential elections declared the election results on 9 December 2020, he was “instructed” together with his other colleague, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, to leave the EC National Collation Centre to consult with the petitioner.
However, on their blind side, the EC chairperson after they had left, decided to announce the results of the election without affording them an opportunity to register some reservations they had about the results from some regions.
Lawyer for the EC on this claim by the witness inquired whether or not the witness, Kpessa-Whyte, ever spoke directly with the EC and his answer was in the negative. He, however, claimed that Jean Mensa spoke with his other colleague, Mettle-Nunoo.
Next court sitting
The presiding judge, Chief Justice Anin Yeboah, adjourned sitting to Wednesday, 3 February 2021 for the trial to continue. The petitioner at tomorrow’s sitting is expected to move his latest application praying the Supreme Court to order the EC to permit him to inspect all original documents with regard to election 2020 which are in the custody of the EC.
The EC chairperson, Jean Mensa, the witness of the 1st respondent (EC) would be expected to go into the box for cross-examination by lawyers of the petitioner and the 2nd respondent.
