Dismissed petitioner’s application on the right path- Constitutional Lawyer

Dismissed petitioner’s application on the right path- Constitutional Lawyer 

The Supreme Court has for the fourth consecutive time dismissed an application filed by the lawyers for the petitioner, John Dramani Mahama, in the ongoing election petition hearing.

The Supreme Court of Ghana on Wednesday, 03 February 2021, dismissed an application filed by the lawyers for the petitioner in the election petition hearing, John Dramani Mahama, to inspect the original documents of the 1st Respondent, the Electoral Commission.

The Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah in dismissing the application ruled that “the proceedings so far show that the petitioner has copies of the documents which were the subject of the instant application.
"We are of the view that no proper case has been laid before us to warrant the exercise of our discretion in favour of the applicant," the CJ declared.

“Order 29 of C.I. 47 which is the basis of this application should not be read in isolation, it should be read in conjunction with Rule 11 of the said Order.”

He added that Section 166 of the Evidence Act 323 of 1975 “makes it clear that a duplicate of a document is admissible to the same extent as the original unless a genuine question is raised as to the authenticity of the duplicate. No issue has been raised against the authenticity of the document in possession of the applicant.”

Constitutional Lawyer, Lawyer Kofi Bekai speaking to Nana Ampratwum on Silver fm Omanbapa morning show explained that, there a some protocols a person have to follow during the pre trial.

He said, the Supreme Court of the land was right in its decision to dismiss the petitioner's application.