Ghana inauguration goes on, while opposition plots court comeback (+video)
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A study released last year by the World Justice Project ranked Ghana as one of the most steadfast in the region when it comes to rule of law, and with a court composed of jurors appointed by different presidents, how they’ll rule on Akufo-Addo’s challenge is anyone’s guess.
Isaac Owusu-Mensah, a political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, said the case is a chance for the court to rise above the country’s often-feisty partisan politics.
“Now [the court] has an opportunity to show their [independence], that the judiciary is not in bed with the opposition or the government,” says Mr. Owusu-Mensah in a phone interview.
Owusu-Mensah questions how well the court would receive some of the evidence brought forth by the NPP, but says the party’s claim that people voted without verification may prove decisive when the justices consider the case.
“The law says in a polling station, if there’s no verification, there’s no voting. The votes will not be counted,” says Owusu-Mensah. “It means that Mahama wouldn’t have gotten 50 percent and Akufo-Addo wouldn’t have gotten 50 percent.”
That would force a runoff vote, which would send Ghanaians back to the polls.
