Lead
Counsel for the Petitioners, Lawyer Philip Addison, wore his heart on
his sleeve on Wednesday when he openly told the Nine Justices of the
Supreme Court adjudicating on the election petition suit that he does
not trust legal teams of the Respondents nor their Witness "one bit" to
leave a document belonging to the petitioners in their custody.
The
drama unfolded when Lawyer Philip Addison requested that Dr. Afari Gyan
return a document he handed over to him for identification. Dr Afari
Gyan had earlier identified the document to be the voters register for
Adaklu Constituency but said he cannot be sure if this was the same
register given to the NPP.
Counsel then asks if witness is
doubting the authenticity of the register before him. Dr Afari Gyan then
pleaded with the court to allow him keep the petitioners’ document and
cross-check with the copy in the custody of the Electoral Commission
before answering questions on it.
He promised to return it tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
Counsel
for the Petitioners resists saying he will not allow witness to take
the register home. He then proceeded to demand that his copy be returned
to him and said he would instead give the witness an electronic copy.
Counsel
for the EC, Quarshie-Idun also stepped in and asked what Mr. Addison
was afraid of in leaving the document with the second respondents.
Quarshie-Idun also insisted that the document be marked for
identification before being given to Dr. Afari-Gyan.
But Lawyer
Addison vowed that he would not allow witness for the second respondent
to take away the document if the court was not ready to keep it in its
custody.
The court could not understand the reason behind this demand and enquired from counsel.
Lawyer Addison then revealed why.
“They
seem not to trust me and they want me to trust them; I don’t trust them
one bit…the document can be in the custody of the Court, I will not let
them take this document away...I don’t trust them one bit. One bit, I
don’t," he blurted.
Justice Vida Akoto Bamfo then drew Mr.
Addison’s attention to his choice of language and asked if it was not
sad that he made those comments before the court.
He explained
the reason behind his harsh criticism on his learned colleagues stating
that their attitude triggered him to use such words.
“Well, My
Lord I have said what has not been said, their attitude. I wanted my
document, look at their attitude they put up here, it’s so sad. I’m sad.
That they should even think that I’ll take this document and because
I’ve doctored it. Really?...” replied Addison.
Justice Baffoe Bonnie also attempted to calm nerves.
"Mr.
Addison, you were a few minutes ago talking about the shifting of the
goalpost. You see, you are seeking to put this document in evidence and
asking questions on it and the witness says, I want to check and
compare. So if you decide to take the document back, what is he going to
compare with? What is he going to be comparing with?" he asked.
But
Mr. Addison would not be moved as he replied, "that is why, if your
lordship will recall, yesterday, for the avoidance of all this and this
kind of petty mistrust I said they should bring their document, they
should bring their register and they didn’t accept it. You see, to avoid
all these doubts I said bring yours, if your lordship will recall that
was my request yesterday. They refused and I have brought this and look
at all this doubt that is being created. Now it is that they want the
soft copy, so I said bring me back the document I’ll bring you the soft
copy.
He again repeated his distrust of the Respondents by
saying: “…I do not think that I will leave it with this Witness, they
have been so untruthful throughout this proceedings, I don’t trust them
one bit”.
Baffoe Bonnie sharply rebukes Mr. Addison, who, by
then, was entangled in a chat-back with the Bench, by asking him to
“please listen to me; when I’m talking you have to keep quiet”. "…Please
listen to me, when I’m talking you have to keep quiet. You see this
message has been delivered so many times. Whatever you say, is to the
bench. If you say you don’t trust, if you use any negative words, they
impact negatively on the bench, so you shouldn’t be using those words,
that is clear and simple. I don’t see why you don’t get it. I mean
these…What, what, what can we be doing here if we have to be throwing
words at each other? We can’t achieve anything. The people of Ghana want
the truth and justice so if you have any… if you don’t trust them, this
is not the way of going about it, keep it to yourself, this whole thing
is being broadcast live and then the whole international community get
to know that this is the language that is being used in the Ghanaian
courts? I mean, clearly it’s wrong,” Justice Baffoe Bonnie averred.
Lawyer
Addison quickly replies in protest saying far more serious and
derogatory comments had been made by counsel for the respondents in
previous sittings which did not attract the opprobrium of the Bench and
made reference to a comment by counsel for the NDC, Tsatsu Tsikata,
imputing ‘criminality’ to the petitioners. “Well My Lord, I
hear you except to say that far serious and stronger words have been
used in this courtroom without any comment from the Bench; criminality
has been used to apply to us, not a word came from anywhere,” Lawyer
Addison said. The President of the Bench, William Atuguba then
stepped in and cautioned Lawyer Addison to refrain from impugning the
integrity of the judges. He defended the rulings of the Court by saying
"Now, let us say this, it’s not everything that the bench must
specifically comment upon. Sometimes a general statement is made that
covers what has arisen. If it comes and no complaint is made or it
passes we feel that ok…,
"We’ve always said that lawyers
appearing, both at common law and all the statutes required of the legal
profession act, are officers of the court. We have those powers to deal
with the conduct of any lawyer appearing before us, so many – we can
walk you out, we can deal with you for contempt, we can refer you to the
disciplinary committee – all these are ample powers. But we feel that
power is for the benefit of human beings and not for its sake… If you
feel that we are failing in our duty and we start punching then that is
not our fault. So ok, finally, and all you here are our witnesses, the
slate, for the final time has been wiped clean. Let’s proceed." |
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