Atuguba was sympathetic to NDC - Titus Glover

The Member of Parliament for Tema East, Nii Kwartei Titus Glover, says events that occurred during the 2012 presidential election petition trial, and the subsequent judgement delivered by the Court have vindicated his call for the president of the nine-member panel, Justice Williams Atuguba, to recuse himself prior to the trial.

Speaking on MultiTV’s AM Talk yesterday, Mr Titus Glover stated that he had been vindicated by Justice Atuguba's consistent opposition to the position of the petitioners, from the opposition New Patriotic Party, during the hearing of the presidential election petition.

According to him, what happened during the trial showed that the presiding judge was sympathetic to the cause of the governing National Democratic Congress.

It can be recalled that a day before the Court’s first sitting, Titus Glover raised reservations about the propriety of allowing Justice Atuguba to be on the nine-member panel.

The MP’s reason was that Justice Atuguba’s relationship with President Mahama’s Executive Secretary, Raymond Atuguba, provided grounds for likely bias on the part of the Judge.

"I was the first person to raise the red flag against Justice Atuguba, that because of his relationship with Raymond, he should recuse himself from the case...now I have been vindicated," he insisted yesterday.

He was of the firm belief that Justice William Atuguba, an uncle of Raymond Atuguba, should have declined sitting on the election petition because of the possibility of his family ties affecting his work.

"If you want to know who has been consistent on one line [against the petitioners], it is Justice Atuguba, consistently and unchanged through to the end of this case", the Tema East MP charged.

He made this remark while condemning comments made by Tsatsu Tsikata, lead counsel for the NDC, who accused Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah of allowing his supposed ties with the NPP to influence his judgment.

Tsatsu claimed that because Justice Anin Yeboah was appointed by former President Kufuor, he consistently opposed the position of the NDC during the election petition trial.

His comments have been roundly condemned by political opponents, statesmen, religious and civil society groups. But Tsatsu has maintained he spoke the truth, and dismissed calls on him to apologise for the attack on the judge.

Titus Glover disagreed with Tsatsu's claim, explaining that there were certain rulings in which Justice Anin Yeboah joined other judges to rule against the petitioners.

He added, however, that same could not be said of Justice William Atuguba who dismissed all the six claims of the petitioners in the final ruling of the court.

Justice Anin Yeboah dismissed three of the claims of the petitioners and upheld three others.

Even though President John Dramani Mahama, nor any member of his government, has directly condemned Mr Tsikata for his attacks against Justice Anin Yeboah, he has expressed concerns about development in the country after the Supreme Court came out with its judgment.

“I believe that the current commentary that is going on about the justices of the Court and all that are absolutely unnecessary; the court has decided, let’s put the case behind us. Let’s rally together as a nation; there is a lot of work to do. Let’s put our shoulders to the wheel and let’s do that work so that our nation will become a better place for ourselves and children,” he stated.

He expressed the concerns at a meeting with Sheikh Osumanu Nuhu Sharubutu, National Chief Imam, during a courtesy call on him at the presidency.

The president said with the eight months of uncertainties in the country, arising out of the election petition trial, over, with the delivery of judgment that had been accepted by all parties, it was needles to launch attacks on the justices who sat on the case.

“I have always had confidence in Ghanaians for their obedience to law and order and, therefore, did not expect anything different after the verdict and will like to commend all the stakeholders,” Mr Mahama added.