We are still waiting for petitioners' killer punch – Ato Dadzie

Spokesperson for the legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Nana Ato Dadzie has intimated the petitioners have not launched any killer punch as far as cross-examination of Dr. Afari-Gyan was concerned.

Philip Addison on Monday continued with the third day of his cross-examination of the witness for the Electoral Commission, Dr. Afari-Gyan.

He covered issues of serial numbers, special voting and the printing of ballot papers.

But in a post-court interview, Nana Ato Dadzie praised what he termed was the ‘speed’ of Dr Afari-Gyan’s rebuttal on the petitioners' claim about duplicate serial numbers.

The petitioners claim it was used to perpetuate irregularities in the disputed election last December.

“He didn’t have to spend too much time…I was surprised at the speed with which he demolished that argument,” Ato Dadzie revealed.

For a whole day we still waiting for the killer punch...maybe he is yet to come forward,” he taunted.

He recalled the E.C’s explanation. Serial numbers on the pink sheets are immaterial, he reiterated.

“They are only numbers embossed by printers outside the country," he added.

The former Chief of Staff explained that printing of the ballot papers locally went to affirm the greater importance of the serial numbers on the ballot.

The foreign printing of the pink sheet by “people they don’t have anything to do with the actual election” discounted the importance the petitioners were levying on pink sheet serial numbers.

He continued that the serial numbers on the ballot paper was the primary reference point as far as its importance was concerned. The fact that party agents went as far as sleeping at the premises of the local printing houses proved the security implications of the ballot papers, he further explained.

“No agent goes outside the country to see how serial numbers are printed because it is not a security issue,” he asserted.

The former Chief of Staff said the Presidential Election Petition brought forth by the petitioners raised serious allegations of statutory infractions, irregularities and omissions.

But Philip Addison counsel for the petitioners had so far done little to address the issues at stake; he was rather addressing tangential issues such as procurement of ballot papers and registration, Nana Ato Dadzie assessed.

“The questions are not anywhere near these critical issues,” he appeared to be chiding.

He said although it was for the court to decide on the relevance of the issues raised by the petitioners, he had so far “seen nothing”.