OPEN LETTER TO THE 9 JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF GHANA ON THE ELECTION PETITION FILED BY NANA ADDO AND TWO OTHERS

My Lordships,
I am writing with regards to the election petition filed by the Leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and two others . The petitioners are seeking relieves from the court to overturn the mandate of over 2 million voters whose rights to vote as enshrined in the constitution were exercised on the 7th and 8th of December 2012.

My lords, on the 7th and 8th of December Ghanaians exercised their civic, democratic and constitutional rights - the right to vote. At 1am on the 7th of December, old men, women and the young who attained universal adult suffrage and were registered to vote had patiently queued and awaited to cast their votes - in fact to exercise their democratic right of determination.

From the fisherman at Ada to the farmer in Mognori; from the market woman at Aboabo to the Kokoo seller at Mallam Atta; from the banker to the beggar on the streets of Tema, one thing was clear - they showed a strong desire and determination to exercise a mandate and responsibility to cast a vote in the ultimate determination of who becomes the president of Ghana at the expense of their daily bread. By their determination, and the subsequent announcement of the results by the constitutionally mandated Electoral Commission, President John Dramani Mahama was declared the winner of the 2012 December elections.

The petitioners have since come to court with unsupported conclusions of connivance, conspiracy, stealing, fraud, irregularities, malpractices and what they consistently claim to be systematic rigging. What they have failed to do is prove these allegations beyond the balance of probability till thus far.

In the petitioners attempt to tender what they call evidence on the face of the pink sheets, they have attempted to balkanise a very united country by frivolously selecting votes in the strong holds of the winner of the December presidential election - President John Dramani Mahama. This attempt only indicates that the petition is pejoratively vexatious and amounts to discrimination, political ethnocentrism, bias and insensitivity. It is clear from the proceedings so far before your lordships that the petition is simply a board room petition cooked in the dark chambers of the petitioners without recourse to equity, justice and respect for the fundamental rights of the voters whose votes they seek to annul.

Furthermore, it has become abundantly clear that this whole petition is empty, reckless, and misguided on the face of the duplicates, triplicates and quadruplicates pink sheets. This whole exercise seems to be a waste of time and an attempt to undermine, discredit, attack and insult an institution of state that has held several elections since the inception of the 1992 constitution and to bastardising the Electoral Commissioner.

Your Lordships, I am writing this letter to your respected outfit to amplify the appeal for judicial restraint and non-interference by your lordships in the elective process carried out by the Electoral Commission. I submit to your lordships as the custodians of the law that you defend and uphold the fundamental and constitutional mandate of the people of Ghana - and

their rights to be registered to vote and determine the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. And they did that by electing President John Mahama.

Again, the petitioners want over 2 million votes to be annulled. My lordships, this will be tantamount to injustice and a violation of the democratic and constitutional rights of the people of Ghana. If the parliamentary elections conducted on the same day; supervised by the same Electoral commission is deemed to be fair, transparent and credible. On what basis is the presidential election which took place on the same day, time, duration and with the same party polling agents, returning officers etc be seen as not unfair, discredited, and not free? My lords, I humbly submit to you not to annul a single vote.

This election petition is mischievously hatched on political significance. Nothing more, nothing less. All the petitioners are seeking to do is to be granted the political leadership of this country on unmeritorious bases. In any case, would the petitioners be in court pleading for votes to be annulled if they were the announced winners of the 2012 elections? Why is it that out of 7 other contenders who participated in the election, they are the only ones who think the election was not won by the President and his party? And if they had won the elections, would same have been said of connivance and conspiracy of rigging on their behalf?

My lords, the above questions are a perfect fit of what I call the 'the doctrine of the Elephant' - that an election is only free and fair when the elephant family assumes the political reign of this sovereign nation of our ours. Anything else is an aberration.

In addition, this election petition is premised on the exercise of people's democratic and constitutional rights. It will be incongruous with the spirit of the constitution to annul the votes of people who have exercised this right. The petitioners proclaimed water-tight, jaw-dropping evidence has not shown that people were prevented, restrained, blocked or refused to exercise their rights to vote

In conclusion my lords, I am appealing to your conscience to be consequentialists - bearing in mind your duties to defend, preserve and uphold the constitution of this republic.

I AM COUNTING ON YOUR HIGH SENSE OF JUDGEMENT AND RESPECT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY. BE BOLD AND DEFEND THE FREEDOMS AND RIGHTS OF ALL CITIZENS WHEREVER THEY ARE IN GHANA.

Yours in the service of Mother Ghana, Kamara Makama. The writer is a Dutch trained Strategic, Political and Public Communication professional