The governing New Patriotic Party has replied to an official petition presented to the Supreme Court by the opposition National Democratic Congress to challenge the result of the 2020 elections.

Per the content of the petition, the Presidential Candidate of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama is seeking amongst other things a total annulment of the election result.

He also wants the Supreme Court to bar Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo from holding himself as the President-elect of Ghana.

But the NPP in their response stating their readiness to enter the legal battle, has described the demands and entire content of the petition as empty and riddled with errors.

The NPP also hinted of their intent to present substantive evidence to counter what the NDC claims to have.

Read the full statement below;

31ST DECEMBER 2020

PRESS RELEASE

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has taken notice of the filing of an Election Petition by John Dramani Mahama, challenging the declaration of H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the validly elected and duly declared President-Elect of the Republic of Ghana.

Indeed, the responsible, appropriate and democratic means of determining election disputes is by resort to the Courts. Better still, the process of filing a Petition in court ought to put to bed the many cases of intimidation, threats and acts of violence and arson and destruction of property, that have been the preferred path for the NDC.

The NPP is assured that the 7th December 2020 Elections was won fair and square. Indeed, the evidence presented by the NDC has only reassured the people of Ghana that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won the elections. The fact of transparency of the General Elections was also resoundingly affirmed by the myriad of local and international observers that participated in the electoral process.

It is quite curious that John Dramani Mahama, the NDC flagbearer and Petitioner, who grounds his Petition on supposed errors made by the Electoral Commission, has himself submitted a Petition fraught with errors, including requesting a run-off between himself and the Electoral Commission. It is also unfortunate that even after filing the Petition in court, the NDC led by John Dramani Mahama continues to incite supporters to pour onto the streets to cause chaos and anarchy.

The NPP wishes to assure its supporters and the People of Ghana that the Legal Team of H.E. the President is ready to expose the emptiness of John Mahama’s Petition and the NDC’s denial of the electoral truth that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo indeed won this election without any iota of doubt.

Our response will show that the NDC has presented no material evidence of value in Court to support its blatantly false claims regarding the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. They lied to their supporters that they had won and started referring to John Dramani Mahama falsely as the President-Elect. Now they have backtracked, settling futilely for a run-off which they themselves know will not happen.

They have attempted and continue to use lies, threats, violence, and intimidation to seek forlornly to overrule the manifest will of the people as freely expressed on 7th December, 2020. We are absolutely confident that the facts and figures as presented in court, even by the NDC, will very easily, in a transparent and indisputable manner, reaffirm the expressed will of the voting public that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won the 2020 Presidential Election “one touch” and convincingly so.

It must, however, be stressed that it is quite worrying that John Dramani Mahama, through his social media handles, continues to incite violence even as he invokes his right to use the court process to settle his grievance. He posted on his Facebook page and Twitter handle as follows; “While in court, the NDC will continue all legitimate actions, including protests, to demand the enforcement of the rule of law and protection of life and property of the good people of Ghana.”

This is rather unfortunate and unbefitting of a former President of the Republic. It is obvious that the Petitioner himself has very little confidence in the Petition he is presenting and is still resorting to intimidation to overturn the express will of the people of Ghana. In his latest Press Conference, he explained he is going to court only “to remove doubt.” Does he need the Supreme Court to remove his doubts about losing the elections?

The several attempts to use lies, threats, violence and intimidation to overrule the will of the People is disappointingly undemocratic of the NDC and its leader, John Dramani Mahama.

By calling on his supporters to continue going on the streets, John Dramani Mahama has not only flagrantly flouted but also abused the Peace Pact signed on the 4th of December 2020 where he undertook amongst others, in the presence of witnesses and on National Television, “to accept the results of the elections and concede to the winner accordingly and to use judicial resolution of election disputes, where necessary.”

We call on John Dramani Mahama to immediately retract his inciteful statements to his supporters. It is highly irresponsible of John Dramani Mahama to commence the judicial process yet still admonish his supporters to continue with the violent protests that have threatened the security and peace of Ghanaians and caused Ghanaians to live in unnecessary fear and panic over the past few weeks. The good people of Ghana hold John Dramani Mahama accountable to his sacred undertaking to comply with the Peace Pact, just as H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo did in 2012 and 2016.

Indeed, when NPP filed a Petition in 2012, we notably admonished our supporters not to hit the streets and they did not hit the streets. In fact, this was acknowledged by John Dramani Mahama’s Foreign Minister then, Hannah Tetteh, who said to investors in Dubai on May 2, 2013: “Our elections have been challenged but they are being challenged in court, they are not being challenged in the streets and whatever is the outcome of the court’s decision, we will all go along with it as political parties.”

The NPP is greatly confident that due process will prevail, and the Supreme Court will deal with the Petition in accordance with the rule of law. May God bless our homeland Ghana and make her great and strong!

…SIGNED…

Yaw Buaben Asamoa

(Communications Director)