The Supreme Court has struck out portions and paragraphs of the witness statement of Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, third witness for former President John Mahama.
According to the panel chaired by the Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, those paragraphs are struck out as having no basis in law.
Out of the 23 paragraphs objected to five were granted which are portions of paragraph 4, and the entirety of paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 18.
Sitting has been adjourned to Monday, February 8, 2021, for EC to cross-examine the witness via zoom.
Lawyers of the Respondents in the ongoing election petition before the Supreme Court on Friday raised objections to 23 out of the 32-paragraph witness statement of Rojo Mettel Nunoo.
Mettle-Nunoo, one of the two agents in the strongroom of tye Electoral Commission (EC) is set to give evidence via zoom but portions of his witness statement has been challenged by the Respondents just before he tenders it in evidence.
Lawyer Akoto Ampaw, Lead Counsel for the 2nd Respondent Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo raised objections to paragraphs 4 (part), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 (part), 16, 17 (part), 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 31 of the witness statement.
He argued that those paragraphs have not been pleaded to in the petition and prayed the court to struck them out before the witness statement is tendered in evidence.
To some of the paragraphs, he argued that it was an attempt to sneak in some information on authenticity through the backdoor, an issue he pointed out has been refused earlier by the court.
Justin Amenuvor, Lead Counsel of the EC who associated himself with submissions of 2nd Respondent Counsel, only drew the court’s attention some of the available laws.
But, the court observed that he was citing from the computer, a development the Chief Justice described as unacceptable.
It was the case of the CJ that, such reference could be made through the hard copies of the Ghana Law Reports.
Counsel conceded and apologized to the bench.
Lead Counsel for the Petitoner, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata while responding to the objections went paragraph-by-paragraph as per the objections raised and responded to them.
While addressing the objections, he took turns to relate the said witness statement to the petition before the court while justifying why those paragraphs are necessary and ought to be maintained.
The seven-member panel of the Supreme Court chaired by Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah with support from Justice Yaw Appau, Justice Samuel Marful-Sau, Justice Nene Amegartcher, Justice Prof Nii Ashie Kotey, Justice Mariama Owusu and Justice Gertrude Torkornoo prior to ruling on the objection sought clarification on the objections being raised.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Murtala Inusah
