– Doubters Must Ask Justice Atuguba

While relaxing in my bed after woken up from a peaceful sleep, thinking about, and weighing, strategies that can rid Ghana of further election riggings, a strong feeling came upon me to inform Ghanaians as following.

?That then NDC presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, never won anywhere near 50%+ of the presidential Election 2012 votes. This is even on assumption of him winning the election genuinely that is, beating Nana Akufo Addo. He won far less than that going by Justice Atuguba’s philosophical interpretations of the relevant Electoral Laws (CI 75) specifically enacted for Election 2012 coupled with his denial of the truth.

?His definition of "Over vote" which went contrary to Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan’s unanimously accepted and widely publicised definition prior to the election, is what the urge has directed me to fault the election of President Mahama on. In effect, it is to prove Justice Atuguba wrong on his understanding and interpretations of Constitutional and Electoral laws in relation to the declared Election 2012 results with the aftermath contestations and heaping of insults on the nine-panel judge that sat on the case.

?Before the elections, Dr Afari Gyan had defined "over voting" as, "when the ballots in the ballot box outnumber the registered ballots cast, an over voting has occurred". Subsequently, the results of any polling station where such an incident occurs will have its results cancelled. However, when the heat upon him became so intense to prove he had not rigged the election in favour of John Mahama contrary to all available credible evidence, he made a big fool of himself on live telecast.

??He said he did not understand "over vote" himself even though he had offered a definition agreed by all parties as indicated above. When he was compelled by the Lead Counsel for the petitioners (Lawyer Phillip Addison) to define "Over vote", he went for his so called classical definition. He said, "Over voting is when the ballots in the ballot box are found to outnumber the registered persons on the voter register for the polling station". This goes to tell if there are 100 persons registered to vote as on the voters register, but only 20 turn up to vote and there happens to be 40 ballots in the ballot box at the close of the poll, no over voting has occurred as per the classical definition. Until the ballots cast exceed 100, no over voting has occurred even if only one person turns up at the polling station to cast his/her vote but 99 ballots are discovered in the ballot box in the end. ? ?Sorry for the detailed explanation. I only want people to get the message I am going to put across clearly well. Unfortunately, a supposedly learned judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Atuguba, ignored the properly agreed definition by all parties as stipulated in the Constitutional Instrument 75 (CI75) and publicly declared by Dr Afari Gyan. He rather went for the second definition in order to cleverly realise his partisan interest. By so doing, and thinking he has got away with his warped mischievous intentions, he is today, again, being proved wrong.

Atuguba said since no one was caught to have voted twice or more, no over voting did occur in Election 2012. Moreover, since there was not a single instance of ballots in the ballot box outnumbering the registered number of voters on the voters register for any particular polling station, no over voting had occurred. ? ?Going by the logic of Justice Atuguba, not until the ballots cast as found in the ballot box exceed the registered voters on the voters register, there could be no instance of over voting. That being the case, I have the following for him. How does he work out the percentage vote earned by each contesting candidate at a polling station level, constituency level and national level? Does he base it on the actual turnout, that is, people turning up to vote on the voting day at the polling station or people supposed to have turned up, registered voters on the voters register? ? ?If a polling station has 90 registered voters on the voters register but say, only 60 turned up to vote. What percentage does say, Kofi, Kwadwo and Kwame get if Kofi gets 15 of the votes cast, Kwadwo gets 27 and Kwame 18? Will Atuguba award the percentages based on the 60 that voted or the 90 that were supposed to vote? ??Standard norm demands that the percentages are calculated based on the turnout (60) for the day but not the registered voters (90) as on the voters register. However, by Atuguba agreeing with Afari Gyan on his absurd classical definition and hence, his travestied judgment, he would calculate it in terms of the 90. Failing to rather work out his percentages based on the total registered voters as on the voters register but on the votes cast on the day of voting, then Atuguba has bared his ignorance of the law for all to see. ?? Could he please work out the actual percentage of the votes garnered by John Mahama based on the total registered voters on the national voters register to see if indeed, he had 50% + 1 vote to win the elections, assuming he genuinely polled more votes than Nana Akufo Addo??The Constitution requires the winner to poll at least 50% + 1 vote of the valid votes cast but not of the registered voters on the voters register. No public elections the world over ever attain 100% turnout of registered voters. Therefore, does Atuguba’s concurrence of Dr Afari Gyan’s classical definition of over voting not a mischief intended to rig the election in favour of John Mahama? ? The total number of registered voters on a voter register is taken for 100%. If votes cast on an election day do not exceed 100%, that is the total number of registered voters as on the voters register, Atuguba in his own wisdom allows for additional fictitious ballots that he calls "Stuffing". Assuming we are still unable to reach the 100% (total registered voters on the voters register) mark, what percentage form does he take the actual turnout (registered votes cast by those turning up to vote) when working out the percentage garnered by each contestant? ? ?How could he say, if forty voters turn out to cast their votes out of seventy registered voters on the voters register, but forty-eight ballots are found in the ballot box, there is no any incident of over voting? He calls the extra eight ballots as stuffing. Who stuffed the ballot box with those eight extra votes? To him the extra votes are genuine and must be treated as such. He believes going all the way down to attain the 100% registered voters on the voters register for the polling station. Until then, there is an ample room to add onto the ballots however you secretly can and he will accept them as genuine. ? ? At what threshold does Atuguba take votes cast for 100%? Can he comfortably work out the percentage votes earned by each contestant in the absence of 100% turnout with "stuffing" inclusive? At what stage does he obtain his 100% mark to work out the percentage point for each candidate? ??Until Atuguba proves me wrong by convincingly calculating the real percentage of votes earned by Mahama according to his warped logic, he will forever incur my wrath and condemnation.

If over voting does not occur until ballots in the ballot box outnumber registered voters on the voters register, then Mahama's currently earned vote percentage is erroneous unless determined based on the total number of registered voters on he national voters register.

?Rockson Adofo