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Legal practitioner Samson Lardy Anyenini says the Democratic National Congress (NDC) petition to the Supreme Court will not prevent President-elect Akufo-Addo from being sworn in as president on January 7.
On December 30, 2020, the standard bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, formally filed a petition with the Supreme Court to challenge the results of the 2020 general elections on the grounds that the declaration of the results “ it is unconstitutional, null and void ”.
As part of the reparations requested from the court, Mr. Mahama requests “an order to annul the declaration of the instrument of the President-elect, 2020 (CI 135)” and another “order of protection that restricts the second defendant (Nana Akufo-Addo ) of presenting himself as president-elect ”.
However, in view of the constitutionally mandated presidential swearing-in ceremony on January 7, Mr. Anyenini stated that President-elect Akufo-Addo will still be sworn in as president despite the request.
“As we know from the 2013 petition, a president must be sworn in. They have to do their job. Yes [the NDC] he is able to make his case and wins, then they (the Supreme Court) will make the necessary orders to reverse the circumstance ”.
However, he added that unless the NDC “files a request to request a court order for the president not to be sworn in, which is an impossibility, deliberately, [as it] it is recorded in the Constitution, it is almost impractical to do something about it ”.
Explaining the legal process of the petition, which is expected to cover a period of 42 days from its first hearing, the lawyer indicated that “according to the schedule of the [court] rules, the matter should end at the beginning of March 2020 ”.
However, he added that if the EC’s request for annulment of the declaration instrument (CI 135 of December 9) is granted “then there is no President-elect.”
