The Supreme Court says the second and the third witnesses for the petitioner in the just-ended election petition hearing should blame themselves for leaving the National Collation Centre, aka ‘Strong room’.

According to the panel, Dr Michael Kpessa Whyte and Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo were stationed at the strong room to observe the collation process on behalf of the 2020 NDC presidential candidate, John Mahama, did not do their job.

Thus, they must accept the consequences if they left their post for reasons other than strictly observing the collation process.

“Out of the three witnesses [the petitioner called], the one whose testimony appeared to have relevance to the issue as stake was Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia (PW1). He was in fact the star witness of the petitioner. His testimony vividly explained the reason the petitioner is in court.

“While the testimony of PW1 [Johnson Asiedu Nketia] was emphatic, the testimonies of PW2 [Dr Kpessa Whyte] and 3 [Rojo Nunoo] were in respect of alleged irregularities in the figures or data on some of the collation forms that they sighted in the strong room but after which they ultimately signed or certified.

“Notwithstanding all these allegations of misunderstandings with staff of the 1st Respondent in the strong room and the fact that they were absent during the declaration they did not give any indication as to how these happenings affected the final results announced by the 1st Respondent,” Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah said when reading the final judgements on the Mahama’s petition on Thursday.

He continued, “Having signed or certified these forms, the witnesses, particularly, PW3, cannot turn round to talk of irregularities in the said forms. Their testimonies were therefore, of no relevance to the issues set down for determination and we find them unworthy whatsoever in the settlement of the issues.

“In fact, regarding the testimonies of PW2 and 3, if their evidence is to be believed then they have to blame themselves for abandoning their post at the National Collation Centre at a time the verification and certification of the result was ongoing.”

Former President John Mahama filed a petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the December 7, 2020, general elections presidential results declared by the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa.

Out of the five witnesses the petitioner intended to call, he called only three; General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Dr Michael Kpessa Whyte and Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo.

The second and third witnesses who were the NDC representatives at the strong room were to testify about irregularities observed during the collation process.

Already, the duo had accused the Electoral Commission boss of ‘tricking’ them to leave the premises to go and see Mr Mahama after which she announced the results on their blind side.

But mounting the witness box to testify, Dr Kpessa Whyte, the second witness admitted that he did not personally interact with the EC chair.

According to him, his colleague, Mr Mettle-Nunoo was the one who had any interaction with Mrs Mensa.

Taking his turn as the third witness for the petitioner, Mr Mettle-Nunoo stuck with the initial assertions.

He insisted that in the early hours of Wednesday, December 9, Mrs Mensa ‘sacked’ him from the strong room when collation was still ongoing.

“The EC sacked me from the strongroom, that was the first time I left the strongroom. It has never happened before, in previous elections, I stayed there for 72 hours.” 

Nevertheless, the judges stressed that the NDC representatives had a purpose to be at the National Collation Centre and should not have abandoned it for any other reason.