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02.09.2013 Diaspora (USA)

NPP-USA Cautions Tsatsu Tsikata

By NPP USA
NPP-USA Cautions Tsatsu Tsikata
02.09.2013 LISTEN

One would have thought that after Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the first petitioner, has graciously accepted the verdict of Justice Atuguba's court; which is shrouded in legal mystery and confusion, in the name of peace, other right thinking Ghanaians would be circumspect in their pronouncements about the proceedings that took place in the supreme court in order to move the nation forward in unity.

But Mr.Tsatsu Tsikata, who could not hide his ethnic bigotry and legendry vindictiveness, would not be conciliatory in his after verdict remarks. It is noteworthy that he would single out Anim-Yeboah, even among the judges he presumes to be pro-NPP.

Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata on TV3's Hot Issues program on Saturday August 31, 2013 accused Justice Anim-Yeboah, one of the nine Supreme Court Judges that heard the matter, of allowing his political affiliations to cloud his judgment. Commenting on the ruling by the Supreme Court Justices, Tsikata said: 'I'm giving you a frank example in a situation where it seems to me like somebody like that [Justice Anim Yeboah] really did not take up what I will call a truly balanced judicial posture in relation to the matters that were before him and I say that very frankly, but I believe that that is an observation that one can make and we do recognize as Lawyers and as Law teachers particularly, we do recognize the ways in which sometimes decisions are affected by some of these personal prejudices and positions.'

What is baffling is that Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata in his usual jaundiced prism would not see anything wrong with the four Justices widely perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be pro- NDC or pro-Mahama (Atuguba, Gbadegbe, Akoto-Bamfoe, and Adinyera), all of these judges cast a straight 'party' line vote (for Respondents) on all six issues. (And yes, an NPP President appointed Adinyera. But you can't tell that from her votes in this case.

In contrast, of the five remaining Justices widely perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be pro-NPP, four of them (Ansah, Owusu, Yeboah and Dotse) cast a mixed vote, voting for the Petitioners on two or three of their primary claims (primarily overvoting, voting without biometric verification, and unsigned pink sheets) and rejecting the remainder of the Petitioners' claims, while the fifth, Baffoe-Bonnie, "switched sides", so to speak, and voted with the 4 presumably pro-NDC justices (and thus for the Respondents) on all but one of the six issues.

So, if we must analyze the Justices' votes strictly on the basis of their presumed partisan predispositions, then what the pattern of voting shows is that the allegedly pro-NDC justices ALL voted strictly on a partisan basis on all six issues, while the allegedly pro-NPP judges voted for the Petitioners on only some, but not all, of the issues. Significantly, had Baffoe-Bonnie, a presumed pro-NPP judge, not "broken ranks," so to speak, the result in this case would have swung 5-4 in favor of the Petitioners.

If we are to go with Tsatsu's logic, did Justices Atuguba, Gbadegbe and Akoto Bamfo, who voted deciding that no infraction took place in the December 2012 election and that the petition was without merit, did so because they were all appointed by the NDC under President Rawlings and late President Mills?'

In spite of these facts, how anyone, particularly someone hailed by some to be a legal luminary can single out one of the Justices who showed objectivity and applied jurisprudence is shocking and baffling. Furthermore, how Tsatsu Tsikata can see no bias in four Justices who opined with complete disregard for the evidence presented, and declined all six reliefs sought by the petitioners raises serious questions about his level of vindictiveness. The question to Tsatsu Tsikata is, which of the two groups showed judicial objectivity - the one that voted strictly on party lines or the group that voted selectively?

If by singling out and attacking Justice Anim-Yeboah, Tastsu Tsikata hopes to shift the focus of Ghanaians from the opaque ending of an otherwise transparent Supreme Court process, then he has misfired. Ghanaians will continue to seek answers as to why Baffoe-Bonie over voted. Why transcripts of the verdict are not available to the petitioners and the general public to date.

NPP-USA would like to remind Mr. Tastsu Tsikata that the days when Supreme Court judges from a particular ethnic group were selected and murdered is gone forever. We are cognizant of the murderous past of P/NDC era. Therefore, we do not take lightly any coded message emanating from vindictive Tsikata. If anything untoward should happen to Justice Anim-Yeboah, Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata will be held personally responsible for any such act, and his gangster NDC will have to answer to Ghanaians

NPP-USA awaits the full report of the judgment after which analysis; we would be in a position to issue a statement on the Supreme Court Ruling. In the interim, we urge that those who comment on the ruling be circumspect and guarded so as not to further inflame passions of an already angry population.

Public Relations Committee - NPP-USA.

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