Contrary to assertions by the legal team of former President John Dramani Mahama in the ongoing election petition that neither their client nor President Akufo-Addo got the required votes to secure victory in the 7 December 2020 presidential polls, the National Democratic Congress’ own General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, arrived at 51.2 per cent for the second respondent and 47 per cent for his own presidential candidate during his testimony for the petitioner before the Supreme Court, Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said.
In a post-trial address to the media on Monday, 22 February 2021, one of the spokespersons for Mr Mahama’s legal team, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, who is also the National Communication Officer of the NDC, said: “We are doing all these things because of the Constitution that all of us have agreed to be bound by”, explaining: “Article 63(3) of that Constitution says that no person should be made a president until and unless he attains more than 50 per cent of the total valid votes in any presidential election and it is clear from Jean Mensa’s own declaration and the figures contained therein that candidate Akufo-Addo did not get more than 50 per cent”.
Per the NDC’s computations, Mr Gyamfi said President Nana Akufo-Addo should not be in office.
“We’ve done the mathematics here over and over again and you can do the mathematics yourself. He did not cross and, so, the petitioner, John Dramani Mahama, is doing this on behalf of all of us, and he is doing this in defence of the Constitution”, he noted.
When the President’s legal team took their turn to also address the media after Mr Mahama’s team was done, Mr Oppong Nkrumah, who is the lead spokesperson for the President’s legal team, said: “Ghanaians have followed the journey that has gone on so far in the court where the petitioner was being looked to adduce evidence”.
“I heard our colleagues [NDC legal team] saying that the mathematics is clear, but you have been here covering for all the days that we have been here and I’m not sure that to you, you saw mathematics that yielded results other than 47 per cent for the petitioner, Mr John Dramani Mahama and 51.2 per cent for the second respondent Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“That was the mathematics that you saw Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia arrive at.”
“That was the arithmetic that he arrived at”, the Ofoase Ayirebi MP stressed, noting: “The answer that he arrived at when he made the various computations”.
“You are hearing them telling you that the mathematics is clear, nobody crossed the 49-per cent [mark] but in the walls of the Supreme Court, before the Justices, I’m not sure you have seen them prove that”, he added.
In his view, the court has given fair hearing to all the parties involved in the matter, of which, he noted, the petitioner has been a beneficiary.
“The court has decided that despite its earlier warnings that if its processes are not complied with, it can strike out the matter, it will still accommodate them so that they can file their written addresses. I think this is clear evidence that nobody is being denied a fair trial here. The court bent itself backwards and is accommodating the interest of all parties so we look forward to the 4th of March for judgment”.
