Private legal practitioner Yaw Oppong says there is no clear-cut indication of the next line of action for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, over the rejection of the just-ended elections results.
He said the only place permitted by law for the aggrieved parties in election declaration disputes is the Supreme Court.
He suggested that all other means to register dissatisfaction with the results will not end in the overturning of results.
“I have always maintained that when there is a problem or a dispute which can only be resolved by the law courts or by law, don’t waste time,” he noted on The Key Points on TV3/3FM on Saturday, December 12.
“Just go to the courts. It will usually calm your supporters down because they know that they risk going to jail or otherwise being punished for contempt.”
The private legal practitioner also suggested to the NDC and Mr Mahama to consider writing a book like the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did after the 1992 elections since he had referred to the results declared by Jean Mensa last Wednesday as ‘The Real Stolen Verdict’.
The NPP in 1992 referred to results of the presidential elections as ‘The Stolen Verdict’, claiming being shortchanged by the incumbent and they protested by boycotting the parliamentary elections.
“As for rejection of elections, it started in even 1992 – Stolen Verdict. The NPP decided not to do anything about it rather than to write a book to catalogue the problems they thought were associated with the elections and then it culminated in a Supreme Court petition in 2012,” Mr Oppong said.
“So there are many ways by which you may decide to express your dissatisfaction with the electoral process and that is why some of us have thought that earlier on the NDC would have told us at that time the remedies including even writing a book because I heard President Mahama said this is the Real Stolen Verdict.
“Are they going to write a book about it, then rethink about how to participate in the next elections 2024? Then, there were hints about lawyers being ready, a legal team being put together to help the people in the constituencies.”
Breaking his silence on the results as declared by the EC, Mr Mahama, who served as President between 2012 and 2017, assured NDC’s supporters that they would beef up their teams in constituencies being challenged by the NPP in order to make a stronger defence of their victories.
“Let me assure our teeming supporters and millions of Ghanaians who voted for this change, which has been stolen – the real stolen verdict – that we are beefing up capacity in the constituencies, where the ruling NPP is seeking to overturn our Parliamentary victories already chalked,” he said on Thursday.
“We are deploying an additional crack team of lawyers and senior Party officials to support them. Also, in order not to leave any further infractions unaccounted for, the NDC will continue its meticulous audit of all presidential pink sheets to ensure that the verdict of the people is upheld.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana
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