..... And Obfuscation Of Justice!

Feature Article, by Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

The ruling by the Supreme Court on an objection raised by Mr. Philip Addison, counsel for the petitioners, just before the lunch break on Thursday, 30th May, 2013 in a majority of six to three, exposed the NPP not only as bad losers but also as a bunch of ignorant actors who have no interest to learn any useful lessons.

I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the court, particularly the six judges whose votes saved the day, for putting the NPP in their place. This ruling gave the NPP no other choice but to sit in and be lectured or “tortured” with facts they rather wished were otherwise. The valuable information coming from the internationally reputable Electoral Commissioner was not only meant for the NPP but the entire country and the world as a whole.

Such a vigorous opposition to knowledge by a band of ignorant men and women in that party, represented by their lawyer is exactly what obscurantism is about! There was nothing the Electoral Commissioner said in court that was irrelevant to the case. And one gets the vivid impression once more, that the NPP is only interested in being declared as winners irrespective of the facts!

The Objection by Mr. Philip Addison must be clearly seen as a manifestation of the bad faith that has characterised their ill-conceived petition right from the word go. More than anything else, it captures in a few minutes the frivolous and vexatious nature of their petition in every material particular! I therefore take this opportunity to invite them to be ashamed of themselves!

It is not going to be easy to ask a party whose “think-tank” has been proud enough to publicly declare their abhorrence of logic and sanity, to have any sense of shame, but it surely worth trying for the sake of our democracy and peace in Ghana. What I see in this is the beginning of the end of a case whose only merit appears to be the inordinate ambition of the petitioners to be declared winners, not because of, but in spite of the facts.

A political party whose “all die be die” Presidential candidate had vowed to be declared winner “at all costs” is proving once more to be extremely costly to our democracy. Slowly but surely, even the avid supporters of the party must be feeling vicariously the shame that the petitioners ought to be feeling by now, if they had any sense of shame!

Mr. Philip Addison's task of climbing this Everest of integrity, transparency, logic, and coherence is an unenviable one. It is clearly predictable that the cross-examination of Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the famous son of the land and hero of our democracy, would be an opportunity for them to expose further, the extremely frivolous and vexatious nature of their petition before the Supreme Court.

Mark my words! Philip Addison's objection overruled

*Published on May 30, 2013*