Asiedu Nketia
The witness for the first respondent in the on-going election petition, Johnson Asiedu Nketia on his first day in the witness box insisted that no over-voting occurred in the 2012 general elections.
The petitioners in the case are challenging the results of the 2012 Presidential elections because according to them, it was riddled with over-voting which saw the Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) President John Mahama [First respondent] emerge the winner.
The star witness of the petitioners, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia who doubles as the second petitioner during his cross examination consistently stated that over-voting was recorded in a lot of polling centers across the country.
But taking his turn in the witness box, Mr. Nketia explained that he has been involved in Ghana’s electoral process since 1978 and “I haven’t seen evidence of voters voting without verification…I disagree with the petitioners if they say there was over-voting. I don’t know which figures they are referring to.”
“As the General Secretary of the NDC, “I participated in all the meetings that led to the recruitment of our agents. I participated in the recruitment and grooming of our polling agent.”
Narrating the activities which took place before the elections, Mr. Nketia said: “All participating parties were involved in the printing of the ballot papers and the numbers of printing houses are known to all parties. Before printing, the EC [Electoral Commission] calls for a meeting, give the time and venue to allow all members to be present during printing and there was a 24hr monitoring of the printing.”
He outlined the duties and responsibilities of polling agents during elections saying, “agents are made to understand their role at the polling station. They are made to check impersonation. They are also made to check the tally of votes our candidates get in the polling as against the votes gained by other parties.
They outline the sorting of ballot boxes, this is to ensure that every vote is protected. They are trained to detect fake ballot papers and they are made to study and know the total number of voters. They are trained to observe the sorting and detect any deformation to the ballot paper. Before voting commences a record is taken of the serial numbers.”
Thus according to him, could not have resulted in any over-voting in the December 7 polls.
He also accused the petitioners of constantly changing their claims throughout court proceedings such as categorization of their evidence, the number of affected polling stations and pink sheets.
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