“SEEKING REVIEW WILL BRING DEVASTATED DISGRACE”

STORY BY: PIUS K. DOGBEY

Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jr., Managing Editor-The Insight

Social commentator and Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jr., has advises petitioners in the just-ended 2012 election petition hearing, who contested the validity of the electoral results that saw President Mahama come to power, against any action of seeking review of the verdict, predicting that such action will “bring about devastated disgrace” to them.

According to Mr. Pratt, after carefully examining the final judgements of the nine Supreme Court Justices, their final verdict and the strict procedures laid down for seeking review, he is fully convinced that any such action by the petitioners will fail.

“The petitioners have their constitutional right to seek review, but I am also predicting that, any such action to seek review will only bring about great devastated disgrace to those who seek it. Having examined the judgement of the judges, I am fully convinced that any such action to seek review will fail”, Mr. Pratt stated.

He noted that, the standard for applying for a review or for reviews to be heard as laid down by the court and the constitution are strictly adhered to, such as introducing fresh material evidence which was not available to the petitioners at the time of filing the case or during the trial period.

He also mentioned that to seek a review the party ought to make a case that the law itself or matters of the law and interpretation of the law which are critical to show that the law has been subverted.

However, in all cases, he says he does not know where the fresh evidence is going to come from, likewise also proving that the law has been subverted. Hence, he “advised very strongly that, the nation’s precious time should not be wasted again on any frivolity like the filing of a review even though it is within the rights of the petitioners to do so”.

He further argued that, a review will fail because of the nature of the case and the conditions required, thereby urging that, those making the noise about seeking review must stop because the presidency of President Mahama is not about to change and is not going to change.  

Mr. Pratt went on to make the case that, the argument that the judges recommended reforms, which is in itself an attestation that the 2012 electoral processes were flawed, are unimaginable, ill-informed and misleading, saying “it does not have to be broken before it is fixed”.

“Those people must pay attention to some recent history. President Kufuor won the election in 2000 and 2004, and after those elections we embarked on massive electoral reforms. Does that mean the processes that led to the election of President Kufuor were also flawed?” Mr. Pratt asked derisively.

He strongly advocated that persons who make such arguments must pay attention to logical consistency while others who make public pronouncements must do so with principles.

Mr. Pratt made these assertions last Saturday, September 7, on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji platform when he took his turn to address issues relating to post-election petition verdict in the political and media landscape.