The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby
Asare Otchere-Darko has called for a live telecast of New Patriotic Party’s law
suit against the Electoral Commission at the Supreme Court.
The institute stated in release that the live broadcast
will bolster the nation’s democracy and ensure transparency.
The governance think tank further called on the
Chief Justice to consent to the idea of telecasting the case live.
Below is the full statement:
DANQUAH INSTITUTE TO CHIEF JUSTICE: TELEVISE NPP'S
HISTORIC LEGAL CASE
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the Executive Director
of research, policy and governance think tank, Danquah Institute, today
appealed to Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, who presides on all cases
before the Supreme Court, to allow television cameras to broadcast all
proceedings of the upcoming law suit by the New Patriotic Party, which intends
to prove that a manipulation of the actual election results by the Electoral
Commission resulted in a faulty declaration of John Dramani Mahama as the
winner of the 2012 presidential election.
He said, a live televised broadcast of such a
historical case for our democracy, with its far-reaching implications for this
and future elections, would reduce opportunities for some people to put a
self-serving spin on the proceedings and decision of the court, with the
intention of inciting undue negative reactions from an already divided nation.
“Full transparency,” the head of the Danquah
Institute said, “will help all Ghanaians accept the ultimate decision of the
court. We need to televise this case for the benefit of the people and the
growth of our democracy. Ghana needs it. Africa needs it.”
He continued, “Every Ghanaian must have the
opportunity to see and hear what is happening in the court room in order to
help form their own informed view of proceedings. This would reduce
opportunities for an aggrieved party to spin the outcome of the case in a way
that could negatively heighten tension and incite party supporters to react
violently or in similar negative fashion.
“To treat public information on this case like any
other court case is to leave it to party propagandists and newspapers to spin
proceedings with the risk of spinning our democracy and stability onto dizzy
heights and out of shape. I believe the Supreme Court has the opportunity and
responsibility to help minimize any such potentially dangerous public reaction
to this case by making it truly public,” stated Otchere-Darko.
"Imagine that the NPP is right: that the
evidence is staggering and overwhelming; and when finally presented to the
court in painstaking detail will prove that a deliberate, systematic, and
coordinated manipulation of vote results took place, which violated the
sovereign will of the Ghanaian people. This is a process which the entire
Ghanaian people need to see with our own eyes. The right to vote is the most
important and sacred civil right in a democratic country like Ghana which every
Ghanaian has an interest in safeguarding, we all need to have the chance to be
able to follow this legal action. Transparency is absolutely crucial here for
the sake of the judges, the parties and the nation.
This is perhaps the highest-stakes case our Supreme
Court has ever heard and it offers a perfect opportunity for our courts to open
their doors to cameras for the first time," he stressed.
Otchere-Darko went on to argue that there are even
precedents involving cases of democratic accountability and transparency of a
much lower scale: "Sittings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and
various commissions of enquiry are regularly televised. Parliamentary sessions
and vetting of Ministers of State and Supreme Court Justices are likewise
televised.
“We at the Danquah Institute, therefore, feel that
it is fully appropriate for people to witness how our independent legal
institutions handle this entire monumental matter from beginning to end where
evidence is to be adduced and how the evidence stand up to strict legal and
arithmetical tests.”
Otchere-Darko added further, this case is a test
“not just of our Ghanaian democratic credentials but also of Africa, as a
whole. The world must be allowed access into the court room to take to another
important level Ghana's leading role in shaping and defining the integrity of
elections in Africa.”
He also cited the famous American election of 2000,
in which ballot disputes in the State of Florida were televised. He noted that
there is a need to assure people of the same level of transparency that is being
asked for to resolve Ghana's political crisis today.
As long as the NPP's case is filed within the
21-day period after the declaration of the results of the presidential election
provided for by the 1992 Constitution, there is likely to be one of only three
outcomes: that (1) the President John Mahama duly won the 2012 election (2)
Akufo-Addo won (3) no candidate received the more than fifty per cent of valid
votes cast as required by the Constitution and that there should be a run-off.
Otchere-Darko said, it remains open that the
results of the election may be annulled thereby invalidating a presidential
inauguration if already held. Although this possibility in itself is already
envisaged by the Constitution, “any proceedings that would lead to such a
historical turn of events must be fully transparent and comprehensible to the
people of Ghana and televising proceedings is the easiest way of achieving
that”, according to the DI man.
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