Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Ahafo-Ano South, Stephen Kwaku Balado Manu has stated that the respondents in the election petition case are being “tolerated” by the panel of Judges in the on-going case.
According to him, this development is giving the respondents and their legal representations “the false impression that they are doing well.”
Mr. Balado Manu on Citi Fm’s, news and analysis programme,The Big Issue on Saturday said: “The NDC [National Democratic Congress] and their cohorts who are in court against the petitioners led by their self acclaimed legal luminaries are messing up themselves in the court and because the court by its set up cannot say ‘you are wasting our time; walk away’, they are being tolerated.”
He added that the continuous tolerance by the court is making the legal team of the respondents to “continuously and persistently mess up.”
The Counsel for the respondents have been criticized for deliberately delaying the hearing of the case by calling for an audit of the pink sheets tended in as evidence by the petitioners and also, their allegation of additional boxes of pink sheets being smuggled into the Supreme Court’s Registry.
The lead Counsel for the third respondent, Tsatsu Tsikata was also criticized for his 13-day cross examination which was also considered as a means to delay the case.
Mr. Balado was however of the opinion that the continuous interferences and complaints by the respondents are intentional beacuse “they know they are going to be proved wrong at the end of the day so they are laying foundation so that at the end of the day, they will say, ‘they added more [boxes of pink sheet]’. They are only giving a dog a bad name.”
Source: Citifmonline
