NPP: Mahama, NDC owe Ghanaians, EC, Judiciary apology

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) says former President John Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) owe Ghanaians and the Judiciary an unqualified apology for wasting everybody’s time with a deceptive election petition

In a leaked audio recording, the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia who was addressing some Party executives, stated emphatically that even though NDC had no figures of its own, the party went to court to challenge results of the 2020 General Election.

A statement issued by the NPP and signed by its Communication Director, Richard Ahiagba said from the audio it is clear that NDC’s motivation was purely for political expediency, as they were only seeking to avoid taking responsibility for their election defeat.

“It is the height of misconduct for former President John Mahama and the NDC leadership to lie to their supporters that they had won the elections and ask them to come out and jubilate,” he stated.

Ahiagba said the NDC led by former President Mahama, vigorously embarked on a campaign of hate against the Judiciary, scandalizing and attacking the very integrity of the Justices and calling them unanimous FC simply because they judged rightly that his petition lacked merit.

According to him, the NPP finds this conduct of the NDC leadership not only unpatriotic but also very disgraceful and unconscionable.

He explained that the NDC virtually asked its supporters to seek redress on the streets because the Electoral Commission (EC) had cheated them, which their supporters also blindly followed creating tension in the country.

The NPP Communication Director noted that NDC wasted time and resources of the court for months when they knew they had no case.

That conduct alone could have plunged the nation into chaos and made nonsense of the enviable reputation of Ghana as the beacon of democracy in Africa.

He recalled that NDC Members of Parliament (MPs), led by Haruna Iddrisu, also hit the street and matched to the premises of EC, knowing all along that they had lost the election fair and square.

On the strength of the NDC’s own confession, the NPP called on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), political watchers and indeed all well-meaning Ghanaians to join the NPP in demanding an apology from former President John Mahama and the NDC leadership for this disservice to the country, which risked democracy.

“Our country has come a long way in our democratic journey, and as stakeholders, we are all expected to protect and defend this enviable feat which has made Ghana, a shining example to other African countries and the world.

“With their confessed deceit in the 2021 Election Petition, the next time the NDC claim they have been cheated in any election, no one should take their word for it, especially in 2024,” he stated .

 Contents of leaked audio

In the leaked audio,  Asiedu-Nketia revealed that the party challenged the 2020 election results in the Supreme Court without any credible collated figures.

IT system for collation crashed

According to him, the IT system the party used to collate results of the 2020 elections crashed after collating results of five regions.

 Claims of victory fueled protest by NDC supporters 

This revelation is shocking because the NDC made claims of winning the elections and their supporters poured onto the streets nearly throwing the country into chaos.

Supreme Court judges denigrated

Based on the claims of winning the elections, party leaders and supporters made denigrating statements against Supreme Court judges.

Asiedu-Nketia revealed that following the crash of the system, the NDC did not have collated figures to determine whether the party indeed won the elections or not.

He said when the decision was taken to challenge the results at the Supreme Court; the party resorted to manual collation of results across Ghana using pink sheets.

According to him, at the time he mounted the witness box at the Supreme Court, the collated results available did not support their case of victory and using such figures will disgrace the NDC.

He disclosed that he did not present the figures to the Supreme Court because it will bring shame and disgrace to him as the star witness and NDC as a party.

With no empirical figures to back their case, he said it was decided that the case be sent to Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata for his advice.

According to Asiedu-Nketia, after reviewing the manually collated figures, Lawyer Tsikata handed the documents back to them and said that if that is the evidence they are taking to court, then they should look for another lawyer.

The incumbent NDC General Secretary said Lawyer Tsikata told them that the Electoral Commission (EC) had breached several rules and laws.

With that in mind, he stated that Lawyer Tsikata was of the view that evidence of NDC’s victory may be found on EC’s biometric verification machines.

In light of this, Asiedu-Nketia disclosed that Lawyer Tsikata was of the view that NDC should argue their case on EC’s breaches hoping that when EC chair Jean Mensa mounts the witness box and is ordered to submit information on biometric verification machines, then the truth about whether NDC won or lost the elections could be established.

The aspiring Chairman therefore promises to leverage on NDC’s membership of Socialist International to seek assistance from member countries to help the NDC with ICT systems to collate results.

Supreme Court dismisses petition

The Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment dismissed the election petition saying it has no reason to order a re-run of the 2020 presidential election.

The Election Petition was filed by Mr John Dramani Mahama, challenging the declaration of Nana Akufo-Addo as the winner of the election.

Petition lacked merit

The seven-member panel presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, said the petition lacked merit.

Crucial issues of relevance not established

The court was of the view that the crucial issues of relevance had not been established by the petitioner.

Petitioner failed to provide any evidence

The judgment pointed out that the petitioner failed to provide any evidence to prove that the declaration by the EC Chairperson, Mrs Jean Mensa, who was the Returning Officer and had some errors, which was eventually corrected, affected the results of the election.

NDC did not provide counter figures

The court said the petitioner’s legal team led by Tsikata did not present any data to counter the figures announced by the EC Chairperson.

Testimonies of petition witnesses were of no relevance to the petition

The court further said the testimonies of the three petition witnesses (NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia, representatives in the EC strong room Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte and Robert Joseph Rojo Mettle-Nunoo) were of no relevance to the petition.