[ 2021-02-23 ]

We don’t want to open Pandora’s Box – Chief Justice
The Supreme Court was wary of setting a bad
precedent when it dismissed the latest attempt by
John Mahama to reopen his case in the election
petition he filed.

When reading the Supreme Court panel’s ruling of
a review application, Chief Justice Kwesi
Anin-Yeboah said the panel was restrained by its
mandate to “administer justice in accordance
with law and accepted justice.”

The Supreme Court’s rulings are binding on all
other courts and Justice Anin-Yeboah warned that
he and his fellow justices “must ensure that it
is not opening Pandora’s Box that can become a
stepping stone for abuse of court processes at
other levels of the judicial system.”

“The interest of justice is not only the
interest of one party in the dispute but must
necessarily be an outcome arrived at through the
proper balance of what the law has prescribed as
the duties of the court to all parties and the
duties of the parties to each other.”

Mr. Mahama had already failed in a first attempt
to reopen his case so as to subpoena the Electoral
Commission (EC) Chairperson, Jean Mensa, to
testify in the election petition as an adverse
witness.

At the time of closing his case, Mr. Mahama’s
lawyers were not expecting the respondents in the
case; the EC and President Akufo-Addo to refuse to
call any witness.

Lead counsel for Mr. Mahama, Tsatsu Tsikata,
argued that not to allow his client to reopen his
case was fraught with fundamental errors of law
and was resulting in a miscarriage of justice.

He said the court in its ruling did not consider
Section 72 of the Evidence Act, which, he said,
would have allowed his client to subpoena the
Chairperson of the EC.

Lawyers for the respondents urged the court to
dismiss the review application, describing it as
an abuse of the court process.

Justice Anin-Yeboah described this course of
events as an “extraordinary situation” but
added that “the court has to ensure the
discretion is consistent with the procedure.”

Source - Citinewsroom

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