The Supreme Court hearing the election petition case seeking to nullify the results of the 2012 elections has been adjourned to Tuesday.
Below are some highlights from today’s hearing
16:30 – Dr Bawumia is calculating some figures using the calculator in court.
He occasionally smiles as the world awaits for cross examination to continue.
16:10 – Justice Atuguba reminds Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata of the fact that the time for the hearing for the day is almost up.
15:45 – Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata tells the court that in his opinion, Dr Bawumia is bearing false witness based on the answers and utterances.
15:30 – Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is answering questions on allegations the petitioners have made concerning over-voting in their affidavit evidence.
14:55 – Justice Atuguba sustains the objection from Philip Addison saying Mr Tsikata’s questions are “repetitive”
14:45 – Philip Addison raises an objection to the line of questioning by the Tsatsu Tsikata indicating that the questions have already been answered by the witness.
14:42 – Tsatsu Tsikata inquires from Dr Bawumia about the number of people who were present at the deposition of the petitioners.
14:30 – For almost ten minutes, Dr Bawumia reviews pink sheets on which he will questioned on.
14:12 – Dr Bawumia reviews a list of pink sheets that Tsikata Tsikata tendered.
Questions on this list will follow shortly,
14:05 – Hearing of the election petition case resumes with Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata still cross examining Dr Bawumia.
13:50 – Court rises for short recess after two hours of hearing.
It has been an interesting day in court as Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata cross examines Dr Bawumia.
Various heated scenes were witnessed as lead counsel for the third respondent sought to bring into question, the credibility of the star witness of the petitioners.
Hearing, according to the Justice Atuguba, resumes around 14:00 GMT.
Highlights from the court proceedings
12:25 – The panel of judges sustain the objection raised by Philip Addison and tells Tony Lithur he has “no right to intervene” further.
12:17 – Judges confer on the objection raised by Philip Addison.
12:10: There is heated debate about the objection raised by Philip Addison about the rationale behind the Tsatsu Tsikata requesting for more names to be outlined of those who assisted in compiling the evidence used by the petitioners.
12:05: It gets feisty in court as Tsatsu Tsikata tells ‘his learned colleague’, Philip Addison to shut up and cease interrupting his cross examination.
Philip Addison appeals to the court to inform Tsatsu Tsikata to use more decorous language in court.
11:50 – “These your political speeches don’t impress anybody” – Tsatsu Tsikata explodes in court in reply to Dr Bawumia’s mode of answering questions.
11:40 – “I am asking this question because witness tries to create confusion with his answers” – Tsatsu Tsikata says in reaction to reservations expressed by the Philip Addison about the mode and manner of questioning adopted against his client.
“You lied about duplications in order to deceive the court to believe that there were more pink sheets than you had” – Tsatsu Tsikata tells Dr Bawumia as questioning continues.
11:25: “What you have submitted before the court is a jumble of paper with mislabellings, duplications and quadruplications” – Tsatsu Tsikata puts to Dr Bawumia after his responses on the evidence presented by the petitioners.
11:05: After perusing several documents in a new lot submitted by the respondents, Dr Bawumia is currently answering questions on ‘Exhibit NDC 19’.
10:55 – Justice Atuguba reiterates the position expressed by one of the judges earlier about the reportage of the case and the conduct of persons involved in the case.
He says the comments made by some lawyers was very unfortunate considering their knowledge of the legal proceedings.
According to him, all persons involved in the case should work to the protect the integrity of the process.
“Too much liberality can break down the institution (legal),” he said.
10:20 – One of the judges on the panel expresses misgivings about the manner in which the media is covering the events that happen at the courts.
Citing an online story which described the decision of the judges on the Bernard Mornah case as “timid”, he noted that circumspection in reports was necessary.
Background
Lead counsel for the National Democratic Congress Tsatsu Tsikata is expected to continue his cross examination of Dr. Bawumia on Monday.
Dr. Bawumia has for the past ten hearings of the election petition case been answering questions from lawyers for the respondents in an effort to get the court to nullify over 4 million votes in the last elections.
It will be day eleven (11) for Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia in the witness box.
Day ten of the hearing of the substantive case saw Dr Bawumia answer questions targeted at the data represented in the affidavit evidence submitted by the petitioners.
Lawyer Tsikata sought to prove that the petitioners had duplicated, triplicated and quadruplicated some of the pink sheets submitted as evidence.
Before the court rose, Justice Atuguba instructed the lawyers representing the petitioners and respondents to “sort out the exhibits in the order you intend to submit it.”
He instructed them to meet ahead of the 9:30 hearing time to work out all outstanding issues relating to documents they intended to tender int
o evidence.
