By
Felix Engsalige Nyaaba
Ghana, which
has been touted as the beacon of democracy in Africa will receive world attention as the nine member
panel of the Supreme Court gives its on
the historic presidential election
petition today.
The presidential election petition, which has
gripped international attention for over seven months and received wide coverage
by local media during the hearing, will however also witness over 20 foreign
media houses in the court today to cover the verdict.
Checks at the communication department of the
judicial services yesterday confirmed that about 20 foreign media houses,
including BBC, CNN, Associate Press, New-York Times, have obtained
accreditations to cover the judgment to be deliver by the Supreme Court.
The presidential election petition was brought to court
by the 2012 presidential candidate e of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP)
, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, his running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the
party National Chairman, Mr. Jake Obetsibi Lamptey
The petition, which was filed on December 28, last
year, by the three petitioners are alleging irregularities of over –voting,
voting without biometric devices verifications, non-signatures of election
presiding officers on pink sheets, duplicate pink sheets serial numbers and
unidentified 28 polling stations affecting over 11,482 polling stations.
However, after the nearly eight months trial, the petitioners in their summary of case, also known as
written submission, reduced the allegation to affect 10,119 polling
stations containing 3,931,339 votes, seeking the powers of the Supreme Court to annul
and declare Nana Akuffo Addo, the loser of the 2012 presidential elections
,president elect for the people of Ghana.
But the respondents, made up of President John Dramani Mahama, the
Electoral Commission(EC) and the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) , are however praying the court to punish the
petitioners, saying the petitioners have failed to prove compelling evidence
that warrant the annulment of over 4.3 million Ghanaians votes.
The judges that have been hearing the case since it
was filed are Mr. Justice William Atuguba, president of the panel, Mr. Justice
Julius Ansah, Justice Sophia Ophelia Adinyira(Mrs.), Justice Rose Comfort Owusu
(Ms) and Mr. Justice Jones Victor Dotse.
The rest
are, Mr. Justice Anin Yeboah, Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Mr. Justice
Nashiru Sulley Gbadegbe and Justice Vida Akoto Bamfo(Mrs).
Accreditation
The communication department of the judicial
services has assigned only four categories of persons accredited to enter the
court premises as the court delivers
its verdict today.
The category of persons to enter the court premises
today includes the parties in the case, their lawyers, journalist and some
selected security personnel.
In addition, party functionaries, former and current
minister of state, as well as
parliamentarians who wish to observe the verdict, are also directed to contact their respective
parties for accreditation in order to gain access to the Supreme Court
premises.
Security
at Court
The security services on the other hand has also
intensified its presences at the supreme court as at yesterday at about 1:30 pm
and vehicles haves been banned from entering into certain areas near the court.
All the entrances to the court premises including
the main gates from Ministry, the Ghana Law school gate and the Fast Track High
Courts side gate were all guarded by heavily armed police officers.
The court would sit at 10:00 am.
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