“You and I Were Not There”, Said Dr. Bawumia

“You and I were not there” was a strong credible testimony made by Dr Mahammudu Bawumia, the twice vice presidential –aspirant on NPP ticket for Elections 2008 and 2012. This evidential utterance was made during the Supreme Court hearing on Election 2012 petition filed by Nana Akufo Addo, Dr Bawumia and Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, alleging election irregularities that took place in favour of then Vice President /presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama.

He made this statement in answer to a cross-examination question put to him. By this answer, he meant to insist on the facts and the credibility of the evidential documents (Pink sheets) as were before the court, than why and how the nakedly observable errors, irregularities etc., as on the pink sheets, occurred.

He was not there to establish the intentions of the party polling station agents, Electoral Commission presiding officers and others, in regards to the occurrence of the established electoral omissions, commissions, errors and irregularities that marred Election 2012 as evidenced on the pink sheets.

For the mere utterance of that statement, “You and I were not there”, purporting to tell his cross-examiner or the defending party who were not physically present at the polling stations at the time of the commission of the irregularities, to rather base their arguments on the facts before the court, he became an object of laughter in the eyes of a section of Ghanaians.

Some Ghanaians started mocking him. They questioned his credibility as a principal witness. If he was not there, how then could he mount a challenge against what was committed in his absence; how could he challenge the authenticity, or otherwise, of the entries made and signed, or not signed, by the polling station agents, Electoral Commission Returning/Presiding officers?

One should not necessarily be always present at the time of the occurrence of an incident or an act, before they can comment on them or believe them or accept them or refuse them. The trail evidence that will be left after the occurrence of such incident, if proven credible, is more than enough for one to use them in their arguments.

Do we dispute the truth, or the credibility of occurrences on the mere fact that we were not there when they occurred? Is that sensible enough?

Do we believe the Great Scientist Isaac Newton? He established the Law of Gravity (formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation), first after observing an apple (fruit) fall from an apple tree when he was sitting under the tree? Were any of the current inhabitants of the earth there to observe when the alleged apple, the basis of his establishment of the Law of Gravity, falls from the tree? None of us was there but the facts as established, proven by subsequent scientific experiments, speak for themselves.

Do we believe the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes when he exclaimed, “Eureka?” He was the one who established the theory of an object displacing its own volume of weight when submerged in fluid (say water). “The exclamation 'Eureka!' is famously attributed to the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes. He reportedly proclaimed "Eureka!" when he stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose—he suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged”

None of us was there to observe him step into a bath, however, the veracity of his findings as attested to by scientists since then; make us believe him and whichever circumstance he used to arrive at it.

I can go on and on citing instances until space and time will not allow me.

In conclusion, Dr Bawumia was right. All those deriding his assertion, calling his credibility as a learned person and a good witness into question are wrong. He said the truth, arguing that even though both of them were not there, his argument and facts on the pink sheets stood taller than any imaginary quest to establish the intentions of those committing the acts as found on the pink sheets.

After this publication, will you continue to ignorantly tease Dr Bawumia, calling him “Dr Pink Sheets?”