Lead Counsel for the 2nd Respondent in the 2020 Presidential Election Petition, Akoto Ampaw, has called for the dismissal of John Mahama’s review application to reopen case.
Making his submission at the Court on Monday, February 22, Mr Ampaw said the court should set aside the review application because no substantial error has been indicated against the court’s ruling.
Reading section 72, sub-section 1 of the Evidence Act, Mr Ampaw said Section 72 relates to a situation where a party has not closed its case, hence the court has no reason to cite such a section in its ruling since the petitioner had closed his case.
He said all submissions made by the petitioner around section 72 are totally irrelevant.
“Order 38, rule 3e 5 is part of the laws of Ghana. Lead counsel for the petitioner has no basis to say such order may not be used in the court’s ruling. Section 58 of Act 459 is irrelevant to the present stage of the case. The section presupposes that the party calling for the evidence of another has not closed its case, but that is not the case,” he said.
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Mr Ampaw said the 1st respondent has never made any undertaking to mount the witness box as purported by the petitioner’s lead counsel, adding that the 1st respondent just repeated the position of the law.
He added that Mrs Jean Mensa has the right to refuse to mount the witness box.
Citing ground E of the petitioner’s review, he said all parties have a right to a fair hearing and the right not to testify if breached will warrant an unfair hearing against the 1st respondent.
He said the petitioner has failed to present his closing address, hence it will be a fair trial for the court to proceed without the petitioner’s closing address.
Mr Ampaw further noted that the petitioner had failed to demonstrate the facts.
The court on February 22, 2021; reconstituted itself to a nine-member panel to hear the arguments seeking to reopen the petitioner’s case.