I want the same thing Nana Addo wanted in 2012 election petition - JDM

Former President John Dramani Mahama says many were those impressing upon him to vacate his petitioning the Supreme Court over the outcome of the December 7, 2020 presidential polls.

He said those people continually ask him what it is he is seeking to gain from the exercise.

And according to the former president and candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the election, his answer to that question is that he is seeking the same thing President Akufo-Addo, then candidate of the New Patriotic Party in the election, sought when he petitioned the apex court in 2012.

Mahama caused his lawyers to file the petition Wednesday afternoon, and explained why he chose to go to court, during a late night broadcast.

“Let me tell you: I want, perhaps, the very same thing that my opponent wanted when in 2012 he challenged the results of that election; I want the removal of doubt. I want for all of us to know that our elections should be free, fair, and safe—and that we do not have to settle for a process that leaves us confused, and with more questions than answers.

“I want a Ghana where institutions of state can be held to account. Where we can stand on principle and demand transparency without the risk of losing our lives”, he said.

According to John Mahama, when people lose their lives—as seven people did in the election, “we are moving backwards not forward; we are unraveling the very fabric of our democracy; we are risking the loss of three decades worth of progress.

“When today we see armed military and militia in our collation centres and election outcomes declared at the point of a gun, for us who have witnessed our country's journey through all its post-independence travails, we wonder if we have truly exorcised the ghosts of our tortuous past. We must continue to be a nation in which our young citizens have faith in our institutions, trust the rule of law, and rely on the presence of peace because there is justice.

“Ghana must be a country where we citizens know and believe, without any doubt whatsoever, that the way forward is determined by the will of the Ghanaian people. And that we can hold our institutions of state accountable and guarantee that they work in favour of the national interest and not in the interest of the administration or person in power.

“That is what I want.

“This is why earlier today, my lawyers filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Ghana challenging the declaration of the results of the December 7, 2020 Presidential Election made by Mrs. Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

“I have been compelled to do this because of her clear failure to act in accordance with the Constitution.”