By Margaret Jackson
April 26, 2013
There have been interesting revelations in the on-going Supreme Court (SC) challenge of the 2012 Presidential Election results by the three NPP “Wise Men”, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia and Jake Otanka Obetsebi Lamptey.
Apart from superfluous theatrics, weaves and dances, gaffes, outright lies and denials, there have been other statements made that have left many people wondering about the mental toughness and competence of some of the people involved in the legal slugfest at the SC.
For instance many people were flaggerbasted when Dr Bawumia stated more than once that when you hire a watchman and thieves break into your house to steal, you don’t blame the watchman but the unknown thief.
The question which springs out from this hollow statement from Bawumia is that, why do you hire a watchman in the first place? If you do not have to blame the watchman or at least caution him for doing a lousy job when a thief ransacks your home, then why bother to hire and pay a watchman in the first place?
I hope the watchman/men at Bawumia’s house have taken note of this statement because if a thief breaks into Bawumia’s house they will be found blameless. Bawumia will pat the back of his watchman for standing by for a thief to break into his house and rather go pursue and blame the unknown thief.
Dr Bawumia made this statement when it was suggested to him by Mr Tony Lithur, counsel for President John Mahama, that since the NPP hired and paid their polling agents it was their key responsibility to ensure that apart from all votes being counted and recorded, the information on the pink results sheets were filled out well before appending their signatures.
But Bawumia who disagreed with that assertion stated that it was rather the sole responsibility of the officials of the Electoral Commission to ensure that information on the pink results sheets were correct.
That was why Mr Quarshie-Idun, counsel for the EC sprang a surprise on Bawumia when it was his turn to cross-examine him, by forcing Bawumia to read excerpts from the Guide on the 2012 Elections, which states in unambiguous terms the exact roles of polling agents. Even when Bawumia has read out loudly in court the role of polling agents with millions of Ghanaians watching it on TV and listening on Radio, he still arrogantly went back to state that party polling agents were just exalted agents.
This blunder by Bawumia has come about because he has been coached by his lawyers not to answer any question/s with a straight answer but to unleash his talking points and dance around the questions being asked.
The notorious talking points business by Bawumia which has gained the attention of the nine (9) SC justices is gradually annoying many of them. On several occasions, some of the justices have been forced to make interjections to force Bawumia to answer the questions posed. But unbelievably, Bawumia will promptly go back to his talking points.
Can you believe that in one instance on Thursday April 25, the President of the SC justices sitting on the case, Justice William Atuguba, warned Bawumia to be straight forward in answering questions? That was when he added that Bawumia’s theatrics have become superfluous.
I honestly do not think any right thinking person will hire a watchman and allow him to sleep under the watch and pay him at the end of the day. And to add insult to injury, you will not hire a watchman and allow him to go blameless if he sleeps under the watch and allow a thief to slip into your house.
The next time I see Bawumia advertising for a watchman, I will draw the attention of many people since they may have the easiest job on the planet waiting for them.
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