Election Petition: Take SC verdict as final say – S.K.B. Asante

Dr. S. K. B. Asante, Omanhene of Asokore traditional area says Ghana’s Supreme Court’s expected election petition verdict must be accepted by Ghanaians as the final say.

"...Off course the ordinary citizen has to accept the final verdict of the Supreme Court," Dr. Asante said on Tuesday.

The Asokore Omanhene notes that: “The efficacy of the decision of the court depends on the acceptance by all organs of State.”

Ghana's Supreme Court is expected to pronounce final verdict on the election petition trial which has been running at the apex court since the beginning of 2013.

The 2012 Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and their party's National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, resorted to the court to challenge the 2012 presidential results on grounds that the general elections were fraught with irregularities.

They are praying the court to annul some votes which run into millions in that regard.

The respondents in the case are President John Mahama, the Electoral Commission and the governing National Democratic Congress.

Many peace campaigns have started ahead of the verdict, as part of measures to forestall post-verdict mayhem.

Nana Dr. S. K. B. Asante, who was speaking at one of those peace platforms in Accra on Tuesday explained that what Ghana needs to do is to focus on the fundamental causes and sources of polarisation in the country because the concept of "winner-takes-all is most inappropriate".

“Extreme partisan politics,” according to Dr S. K. B. Asante, has been the cause of Africa’s underdevelopment.

He has, therefore, urged for the inclusion of all sides of the political divide in the decision-making process as the way toward reducing tension and anxiety in the society.

The forum was organised by the William Ofori-Atta Heritage in conjunction with the Christian Council of Ghana, Office of the Chief Imam and Multimedia Communications as part of efforts to get the parties involved and their supporters to peacefully accept whichever verdict is pronounced by the apex court on August 29.

It brought together dignitaries from the government, the opposition New Patriotic Party, academia, the clergy, civil society and chiefs.

In his opening remarks, the patron of the William Ofori-Atta Heritage, Okyehene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori-Panin, stated that the key message for all Ghanaians, no matter the outcome of the decision by the 9 Justices, was “accept the verdict.”