CSOs petition Supreme Court over live broadcast of elections 2020 dispute hearings

Some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) championing issues of free, fair and transparent elections in the country are praying the Supreme Court of Ghana, the highest judicial body of the land to do the honor and diligence to all Ghanaians by ensuring that the proceedings of the 2020 elections petitions brought up by the NDC are telecasted live to the viewing of public to engender transparency and fairness.

Ghana’s relatively peaceful election on December 7, 2020 saw incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) declared the winner with 51.59% of the vote, ahead of the main challenger, former president John Mahama of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), who received 47.3%.

While defeated candidates normally concede in Ghana, Mahama on Wednesday petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the results saying incumbent Akufo-Addo’s win was illegal.

Mr. Mahama argues that the results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) which saw the incumbent emerge victorious was ‘flawed and fictionalized’ because no candidate secured the required number of votes to be declared winner.

Pending the hearing of the case which is expected by next week, the CSOs in a joint petition dated December 30, 2020 co-signed by the leadership of Care For Free and Fair Elections Ghana (“CARE GHANA”), Alliance of Feminist CSOs (AFCSOs) and the African Center for Health Policy Research Analysis humbly appealed to the office of the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, His Lordship Justice Anin-Yeboah to consider their request and ensure that the court hearings are broadcasted live on state owned television and radio to the viewing of the Ghanaian public for the sake of fairness, transparency and accountability.

“That in the spirit of transparency, fair play, and the precedent set in the Election Petition, we humbly ask for the proceedings of the 2020 Presidential Election Petition before the Apex Court of the land to be broadcast live on State owned Television and Radio”, the joint petition partly reads.

Source: Joseph Kobla Wemakor