General News of Friday, 1 February 2013

Source: peacefmonline

Tsatsu Tsikata Is Just "A Court Delaying Lawyer"

One of the NDC’s legal heavyweights, lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata, who has been acclaimed as perhaps the NPP’s nemesis when it comes to legal matters, has been labeled an expert in "delaying court proceedings".

A member of the NPP's Communication Team, Asamoah Gyamfi, who spoke on Okay FM’s Ghana Decides programme, cast a slur on Tsikata’s reputation as a lawyer, by making inferences to suggest he (Tsatsu Tsikata) was a legal luminary specialized in the field of stalling important court proceedings.

Asamoah Gyamfi’s decision to go hard on Lawyer Tsikata comes on the heels of the latter’s alleged “plot”, to “deliberately” drag the court’s feet by making submissions he knows would require formal petition before the judges could grant him a go ahead.

The Supreme Court on 30th January, 2013, by an 8 to 1 majority decision or ruling, stopped Tsatsu Tsikata; counsel for NDC in the electoral dispute from making submission on whether petitioners in the case should be allowed to provide particulars of their allegations of irregularities in 4,709 polling stations.

The decision was taken after the petitioners lead counsel, Philip Addison objected to Tsikata’s attempt to make submissions on the matter. Lawyer Addison said Tsikata should not make any submission on the matter because the matter was brought forth by the Electoral Commission (EC) and John Mahama’s lawyers who had made Applications to that effect.

He said without Tsikata ‘applying formally’ in written form, he cannot make submissions on it.

The Supreme Court Judges by 8 to 1 majority decision restrained Tsikata to that effect.

Asamoah Gyamfi claims Mr Tsikata knew he will be required to file a formal application before making submissions and that all what he put up in court on that day was simply a ploy to drag the case.