One of the spokespersons for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the ongoing election petition case, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah believes their lead counsel, Mr. Akoto Ampaw has been able to expose what he claimed are inconsistencies in the election petition filed by John Mahama, the 2020 presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He believes Mr. Ampaw did this through his cross-examination of General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia.
Mr. Mahama is in court challenging the outcome of the presidential election results declared by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Adukwei Mensa on December 9th and Mr. Asiedu Nketia is one of his witnesses.
The cross-examination of the NDC scribe started last Friday and continued today, Monday, February 1, 2021.
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According to Oppong Nkrumah, Asiedu Nketia couldn’t substantiate any of the claims that forced Mahama to file the election petition.
He insisted that Mr. Akoto Ampaw used the day to correct “outright falsehoods” by the petitioner.
“We are of the view that today has been a big day in court and the big word today is ‘exposed’. You would notice that counsel on our side spent a lot of time exposing the inconsistencies and sometimes the outright falsehoods that have been put out by the petitioner (Mr. Mahama) and the witness who was in the witness box today. So when you juxtapose the earlier claims that they won and now what they are saying in the witness box today that they don’t know who won, you will realise there’s a discrepancy…One of the first things that the counsel on our side sort to do today was to expose the inconsistencies and sometimes outright falsehood by the petitioner and the witness,” he said.
What else happened today?
Earlier in the day, Frank Davies, one of President Akufo-Addo’s lawyers was cautioned by the Justices of the Supreme Court against granting media interviews at the end of sittings.
According to the judges, granting media interviews as an announced lawyer in the case is against the Legal Professional Conduct and Ethical Rules of 2020.
Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, who raised the matter at the beginning of today’s sitting, said the court was uncomfortable with Mr. Davies granting media interviews after trial.
“Mr. Frank Davies, we respectfully want to draw your attention to the Legal Professional conduct and Ethical Rules of 2020. If you look at rule 38, the court is not comfortable with the post-trial interviews that you grant outside,” he said.
Quoting the rule, Justice Anin-Yeboah said, “A lawyer who is practising or has participated in the investigation or litigation of a matter that is still pending before a court shall not make an out-of-court statement or grant an interview to the media on the matter.”
