When the communicators of the National Democratic Congress have been going about announcing the petitioner’s potential strategies on radio and TV, was it lost on them that the respondents also listen to and watch TV, and for that matter may prepare a counter-strategy?
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Opinion: Was the petitioner surprised at the respondents’ lawyers' choice not to call any witnesses?
The decision by the lawyers for the first and second respondents in the election 2020 petition hearing to avoid calling any witnesses to testify at the Supreme Court must be an eye-opener for all of us - when you are in a battle with an opponent, you don’t open up your arsenal.
Was the petitioner surprised that the respondents’ lawyers opted not to call any witnesses?
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Former President John Dramani Mahama who is challenging the election declaration by the first respondent stood on the ticket of the NDC and he is the leader of the party currently, so although the law governing the petition hearing did not allow the party to be joined to the petition as we saw in 2012 one, it is inherently a party to it.
It is every lawyer’s duty to protect his or her witness when they mount the witness box to be cross-examined by an opponent lawyer, and that’s is why when a question is asked of the witness that his or her lawyer believes is not in the interest of the witness to answer, he or she raises an objection quickly.
So, when some NDC communicators made it look as if the cross-examination of the Electoral Commission chairperson Jean Mensa by the petitioner’s lead counsel Tsatsu Tsikata was tantamount to the eruption of armageddon, would her lawyers sit aloof to see her suffer grilling and a possible embarrassment at the hands of the dreaded Tsatsu Tsikata? Definitely no, because it will end up weakening their case too.
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When legal practitioner Abraham Amaliba who happens to be the director of the legal affairs of the NDC called for a public holiday to be declared on the day Jean Mensa mounts the witness box, what exactly did he mean and what was he expecting.
“The day Jean Adukwei Mensa, the first respondent, will mount the witness box will, Ghana will be very interesting and I can’t wait to see my lead counsel Tsatsu Tsikata interrogating Jean Mensa in the witness box during a cross-examination,” Mr. Amaliba told Akoma FM, as quoted by 3news. “The first respondent who happened to be EC chair Jean Adukwei Mensa is the peak of the whole litigation, so we expect that Tsatsu Tsikata will explore lots of angles that will trigger many revelations surrounding the court petition. So, we are really waiting for all applications to be filed and cleared to make way for the day Tsatsu will face Jean Mensh in the witness box.”
A good lawyer is one who is able to pre-empt his opponent and strategise beforehand, and since you raised people’s expectations and created fears that something terrible was about to befall the respondents’ witness if you were in their shoes, would you not do everything possible to save her, being a lawyer of good standing yourself?
Now, the petitioners have closed their case and would not want to call any witnesses. If Tsatsu Tsikata is unable to convince the judges of the Supreme Court with cogent reasons why the respondents must present their witnesses, since no one can be forced to testify in court against their will as the court has already made clear, then it leaves the petitioner’s case shaky.
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It would be recalled that the petitioners had applied to the court seeking answers to certain questions from the first respondent regarding the conduct of the election and the declaration of the results, but the court threw the case out and another application for review of the earlier decision was equally rejected.
Among the reason given by the Supreme Court for not granting the application for interrogatories was that the said questions were not relevant to the case as laid out in the case management, and if even they were, they could be asked during cross-examination.
Now that her lawyers have decided not to let her or any other witness mount the witness box to be cross-examined, how will the petitioner get answers to those questions to strengthen his case as his lawyers had hoped to do?
Cross-examining the EC chairperson would have allowed the petitioner’s lawyers to subject the election results to scrutiny in an open court and to discredit the authenticity of the figures she relied on to make the declaration if indeed there were flaws in it as claimed by the petitioner.
Honestly, it will be disappointing if the Electoral Commission is not made to account to the people of Ghana how the elections were conducted and what went into the declaration as well as whether or not any candidate attained the 50%+1 vote as required by the constitution.
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Well, in other not to cry more than the bereaved, one can only get fingers crossed to see how proceedings will unfold in court later today, as the petitioners continue to believe that they still have a strong case.
Regardless of whatever ruling the Supreme Court gives on whether or not the respondents should call witnesses, the big lesson here is that, when you are in a battle with an opponent, guard your weaponry jealously or you will become a casualty.
Pulse Editor's Opinion is the opinion of an editor of Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the organization Pulse.
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