Preventing Jean Mensa from testifying in 2020 Election Petition shameful –Justice Gyan

A former Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Saeed Kwaku Gyan has criticized the Supreme Court for preventing the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, from testifying during the 2020 presidential Election Petition.

Justice Gyan speaking at a public lecture on the theme “Protecting Our Democracy: The Role of the Judiciary,” highlighted that the failure of the Supreme Court to heed the call of the opposition NDC party and former President John Dramani Mahama, requesting for the EC to justify their points on the declaration of the election results, is undemocratic since the judiciary has the bonding duty to ensure transparency.

Also, the EC is obliged to be accountable to the good people of Ghana not to a specific favourable group.

Article 125 (1) emphasizes that ‘justice emanates from the people and shall be administered in the name of the Republic by the judiciary which shall be independent and subject only to the constitution.’ The import of these stipulations is to underscore the fact that the judiciary and hence judges of our courts are accountable to the people as their servants and not as their masters in the quest to achieve and advance the vision of democratic government and the objective and tangible fruit of democracy in our land”.

“Additionally and more importantly, the judiciary has the bonding duty to hold all other powers, entities, and agencies of the state accountable and ensure transparency in their actions or deeds, and in this respect, I felt very agonized when the Supreme Court in the 2020 election petition decided to shield the Electoral Commissioner from giving evidence. The Supreme Court in that trial was a constitutional court, not just any court…adversarial court, and the Electoral Commission was the Returning Officer”, he added.

Former President Mahama and his party decided to take the Electoral Commission to court after the major election in 2020, citing inaccuracies in the declaration of the election result by the EC.

However, the call for the Supreme Court to summon the EC boss to testify in the witness box was unsuccessful.

According to John Mahama and the NDC, the governing NPP did not win the 2020 election. They were also not happy with the different election results declared by the electoral management body and demanded accountability in the process, but all efforts were futile.