[ 2021-02-23 ]

Review jurisdiction should not be used as emotional reaction
A nine-member panel of Supreme Court Judges has
unanimously affirmed a seven-member panel ruling
that stopped John Mahama from reopening his
election petition case.

The earlier panel comprising; Chief Justice Kwasi
Anin Yeboah, Justices Appau, Marful-Sau, Nene
Amegatcher, Prof. Kotey, Mariama Owusu and
Gertrude Torkonoo ruled that the success of the
petitioner’s case is dependent on his evidence
and therefore the decision to close his case was
not based on the fact that EC Chairperson, Jean
Mensa had filed a witness statement and was to
testify.

This was after, John Mahama, who is the
petitioner, had urged the court to grant his
request saying he intends to subpoena EC
Chairperson, Jean Mensa to testify.

Arguing the review application, lead counsel for
John Mahama, Tsatsu Tsikata said the apex court
made fundamental errors of law during it’s
earlier ruling.



According to him, the court’s ruling failed to
address Order 38 rule 10, the main basis why the
petitioner was seeking to have his case reopened.

Again, Lawyer Tsikata said the judicial panel made
no reference to Section 72 of the Evidence Act in
ruling out the petitioner’s application to have
the election petition case reopened.

He said the court cannot sideline the operation of
a statute by reference to subsidiary legislation
which in any case has no relevance to the issue of
Section 26.

Ending his argument, Mr. Tsikata said the
petitioner has presented enough evidence against
the 1st respondent, who is the Electoral
Commission and further satisfied rule 54 which is
the grounds for seeking a review.

But counsels for the 1st Respondent, Justin
Amenuvor and the 2nd Respondent, Akoto Ampaw
disagreed.

The two counsels told the court that Section 72
relates to a situation where a party has not
closed its case which is not the current case.

Again, the two argued that the court is still not
aware of the evidence that the applicant wants to
present that will warrant the reopening of the
case.

Dismissing the review application, Chief Justice
Kwasi Anin Yeboah maintained the earlier ruling
that the petitioner has not indicated how the
evidence he intends to solicit from the EC
Chairperson will help to determine the case.

He also stated that the arguments raised by the
counsel for the petitioner are the same as those
raised when he asked to reopen his case and
subpoena the EC Chairperson.

He explained that a review jurisdiction should not
be seen and used as an emotional reaction to an
unfavorable judgment.

In conclusion, Chief Justice Anin Yeboah said the
review is being dismissed because the application
is without merit.

Meanwhile, the two additional justices added to
the original 7 were Justice Imoro Tanko and
Justice Henrietta Mensah Bonsu.

Source - Joyfm

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