By
Felix Engsalige Nyaaba
Accra,
Friday June7, 2013
The Supreme Court yesterday for the second time in
the ongoing election petition case sent a stiff warning to lawyers in the case,
especially their spokespersons to desist from the act of giving wrongful interpretation of issues that
happened during court proceedings.
According to the nine members panel of the Supreme Court,
some lawyers who are not part of the substantive legal team leading the case in
the court, often go out the court room and gives contr4ary views on issues that
happened in the court, adding the act of the those lawyers is dangerous to the
legal profession and that the perpetrators of those unethical activities should
put a stop to it.
Mr. Justice Jones Victor Dotse , a member of the
nine panel who raised the issue said, upon watching
a news paper review program on one of the television station in the
country on Thursday morning, he heard
lawyer Abraham Amaliba, a member of the legal communication team of the
National Democratic Congress(NDC) giving
contrary view to issues happened in the court chambers on Wednesday
May 5, 2013, and expressed his
dissatisfactory over the matter.
He said while contributing his comments on matters
that happened in the court with regards to the court orders for KPMG to count
the presiding judges copies of the pink sheets, the NDC lawyer made a comment
which he, Justice Dotse felt to be untrue and contrary to the issues agreed
upon between the parties in chambers.
He however expressed grave concern over lawyers’
comments on matters before the court, adding that the misinterpretation of
court proceedings to the general public by lawyers should seize.
Justice Dotse said the act is degrading the fabric
of the legal profession and that lawyers who are parties in a case should
desist from it for it is unethical.
“Today we
heard one lawyer, Mr. Abraham Amaliba on TV commenting on the issue of KPMG
which was not accurate of what happened in chambers, the parties agreed on
issues that necessitated for KPMG to conduct audit counting on the president of
the panel copies of the pink sheets, but counsel was saying some different from
what took place in chambers.
I think the court would not longer deal leniency
with any lawyers who make wrongful comments on issues in court or gives
wrongful information to the public with regards to the conduct of this case,”
he warned.
Mr. Justice William Atuguba, president of the panel
also added that, the legal profession is one of the important profession of
which members must uphold the ethics, adding that those involved in such
comments should put a stop to it.
According to him, in any democratic dispensation,
the stability of the society depends largely on the legal profession and how
the legal system operates, saying the legal profession is an enviable profession
of which members must commit themselves to the principles as it is the
foundation of which they live upon.
“I think the
legal profession is a very powerful profession, very important and has
important duty, so let us keep that, it our duty to preserve and protect the
importance of the legal profession,” justice Atuguba intimated.
Mr. Tsatsu
Tsikata, lead counsel for the National Democratic Congress, said the issue was
not limited to the comments on the TV, but was across all legal professional,
especially those involved in the election petition case.
According to him, some legal counsel who are parties
in the case are equally culpable of the wrong act as they often
give misinterpretation of issues
that occurred in the court room to the media, adding it was becoming a canker
which the court must jealously protect by condemning it across board.
“My Lords, the issue is very important, some legal
counsel in this case who grossly made comments in the media after court
proceeding should equally condemned, everybody must be condemned, it is not
best,” he stated.
Mr. James Qashie-Idun, lead counsel for the
Electoral Commission said he appreciate the sentiments expressed by the court and
added that lawyers ought to be circumspect on issues been discussed in the
media.
Cross
Examination
Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the returning officer of the
2012 presidential election yesterday told the Supreme Court during cross
examination that, as election administrator of the country, he owed it’s a duty
to ensure that no Ghanaian was disenfranchised in any election held in the
country.
According to
him, the irregularities that the petitioners relied on to make their case was
purely administrative errors of which the commission take responsibility to
ensure that those mistake do not repeat in subsequent election.
Answering oppressive question from the lead counsel
for the petitioners, Mr. Philip Addison, the EC boss said the mistake as they
occurred on the results booklet which also known as pink sheet were palpable
mistake by election officers who were recruited for the purpose of the
election, but added that those mistake have no grounds to warrant cancellation
or nullification of the results.
On the allegation that the petitioners’ party was
not giving the complete voter register which was used in the election, Dr
Afario-Gyan said all political parties that participated in the 2012
presidential and parliamentary election were all given copies of the complete
voter register.
He denied
severally that over voting did occurred during election, adding that the figure
that the petitioners quoted as over voting were all entered in errors and that
there was no bases for the results to be annul on such grounds.
He also told the court that the registration of
Ghanaians outside to vote was done in consonance of the legal obligation on the
EC and that there was nothing illegal in registering Ghanaians who live and
worked in the country foreign embassies’ and other international organization.
He further
explained that the double registration recorded in the oversea registers was
done in errors because the technical men who conducted the exercise failed to
edit the registers before capturing the data base into the complete registers,
adding that upon that no one voted twice during the elections.
While under cross examination, the EC Chairman reiterated that over voting could only occurred in a situation where the total
number of the vote cast in the ballot box exceed the total number of persons
registered and legible to vote.
He denied the allegation that the EC deliberately
declared wrong votes in favour of President John Mahama, adding that the
results were declared based on the total number of vote collated from the 26,02
polling stations nationwide .
The cross examination by the
petitioners witnessed heated legal argument between the respondents counsels
over some exhibits which the petitioners counsel sought to tender through the
witness.
The petitioners were tendering some pink sheets
which bared different exhibit numbers to that of those with the respondents and
they raised concerns and asked the court to take judicial notice to the
discrepancies on the matter.
According to Mr. Tsikata, lead counsel for the NDC,
the discrepancies on the exhibits numbers by the petitioner course great
concern to the respondents, for in his view it was a deliberate attempt to
deceive the court and the respondents.
He also accused the court registry for compromising
the work of the petitioners by failing to ensure proper checks on the exhibits
before serving them on to the respondent.
But Mr. Addison in his response, denied any
mischievous by the petitioners, saying the difference in the exhibits aroused
out of the bulky nature of the exhibits they have had to attach to the case.
He said the exhibits were of the same, but only the
numbering was different and therefore invited the court not to entertain the respondents’
allegation of mischievous, adding it was purely red-heading by the respondents
to unduly delay the case.
After further cross examination on Dr AFARI-Gyan,
the presiding judge, Mr. Justice William Atuguba adjourned the case till Monday
June 10, 2013 for continuation.
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