Tony LithurMr. Tony Lithur, lead counsel for President Mahama has urged upon the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition challenging the validity of the 2012 presidential election results by enforcing the positive rights of voters.
He said the entrenched right of voters is a right guaranteed by the constitution and should be enforced over the omission to perform a constitutional duty, pointing out that the latter has been a key submission of the petitioners seeking to annul over two million votes.
Tony Lithur was making his oral address before the Supreme Court, which decided Wednesday morning that the respondents were to address the court first.
“I think that the enforcement of the positive right when it is shown that there was no malice and that there was no fraud, that positive right, as it were, should be enforced against omissions by a presiding officer to sign.”
In any case, he said, President Mahama won the 2012 elections fair and square, and the lack of any complaint whatsoever “on the face of the pink sheet” by agents of the petitioners against any fraudulent act contrary to what the petitioners have alleged publicly should support the chairman of the Electoral Commission that the 2012 elections was the most transparent that Ghana has ever had.
“The evidence in the face of the pink sheet, the sheer absence of complaints should support Dr. Afari Gyan’s position that this was the most transparent elections this country has had. .. The constitutional right to vote is fundamental , is inalienable, is a God given right. When somebody comes before your Lordships and says that I won election not by votes cast but seeking to annul votes, your Lordships should scrutinize it, and we say that no case has been made for your Lordships to disturb the status quo. President Mahama won the elections, won it fair and square and we respectfully ask your Lordships to declare accordingly.”
Written by Isaac Yeboah
Daily Graphic/graphic.com.gh/Ghana
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