Akufo-Addo's petition will amount to nothing - Mornah

The General Secretary of the People’s National Convention, (PNC), Bernard Mornah, has told XYZ News that the election petition case filed by the main opposition Presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and two others will amount to "nothing".

Citing legal precedence in other countries to back his assertions, Mr. Mornah said he doubted if Ghana’s Supreme Court will overturn the declaration of President John Mahama by the Electoral Commission (EC) as the winner of the 2012 presidential election.

He said: “Go to the United States of America, in the case of Al Gore v. George Bush [2000], the Supreme Court upheld that what the Electoral Commission declared as the official result is what they will also go by despite the irregularities”.

Mr. Mornah further recalled Nigeria’s 2008 Supreme Court verdict in favour of late President Umaru Yar’ Adua against General Muhammadu Buhari where the Court “…upheld that what the Electoral Commission has done, the Supreme Court cannot overturn”.

Additionally, Mr. Mornah cited the recent case in Kenya between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta after that country’s March 4, 2013 Presidential election to buttress his point.

“…In Kenya, what the Supreme Court did was to say, ‘yes, there were inconsistencies, but the Electoral Commission has declared and, therefore, we go with the Electoral Commission’”.

He cited the post-election turmoil that followed neighbouring Ivory Coast’s 2010 elections in which thousands of people were killed after the declaration of then-President Laurent Gbagbo as the winner of the poll by that country’s Constitutional Council was defied by then-opposition leader but now President Alassane Ouattara with the backing of the international community.

Mr. Mornah said: “…I’m sure that we don’t want to get there”, adding that: “We know the consequences”.

He expressed confidence that Ghana’s Supreme Court “will be guided by these authorities, and that’s why I conclude that it's much ado about nothing”.