Supreme Court strikes 5 out of 32 Paragraphs Rojo Mettle-Nunoo’s witness statement

After hours of listening to legal exchanges, the Supreme Court has struck out some portions of the witness statement of Robert Joseph Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, the third witness for the petitioner in the ongoing case.

A seven-member panel presided over by the Chief Justice Anin Yeboah, in the same breath also maintained portions of the same witness statement.

Paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7, 18, has been struck out by the court on the basis that the witness (Rojo Mettle-Nunoo) as it has no foundation with the pleadings.

Paragraph 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 31, have been maintained, as it is a matter which has its pleadings in the matter before this court.

The said paragraphs have subsequently been expunged from Mr Mettle-Nunoo 32-paragraph witness statement filed on Thursday, February 4, 2021.

The apex court’s ruling comes after counsel for the second respondent Akoto Ampaw urged the court to toss out some paragraphs of Mr Mettle-Nunoo’s statement.

Mr Mettle-Nunoo is one of the representatives of the petitioner John Dramani Mahama in the ongoing election petition.

NDC flagbearer Mr Mahama is challenging the results of the 2020 election which was declared in favour of the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.

It was the case of the president’s counsel Akoto Ampaw that some paragraphs of the witness statement filed by Mr Mettle-Nunoo have no bearing on the matter before the court.

He pointed to paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 31 and claimed they were not in the pleadings of the petitioner.

A total of 23 paragraphs were brought to the attention of the court.

Supporting Mr Ampaw’s submission was counsel for the Electoral Commission Justin Amenuvor.

Mr Mettle-Nunoo statement 

In Mr Mettle-Nunoo’s 32-paragraph witness statement chronicling some of the major events that occurred in the EC strong room, he accused the EC boss Jean Mensa of not performing her duties well.

He touched on some concerns regarding summary sheets from the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern and Northern Region respectively.

The third witness said in his witness statement that EC officials misled him to sign the regional collation sheet for the Ashanti Region.

The NDC representative explained that he signed the sheet because there was a signature of Mr Mahama’s agent on it.

Mr Mettle-Nunoo said he later realised that the sheet presented to him to sign was inconsistent with a tally of polling station results in the Ashanti Region.

According to him, the EC boss told him that, all the concerns he had raised in the strong room against the collation of the presidential results were genuine.

The case continues on February 8, 2021, to continue with its cross examination of the third witness, Robert Joseph Rojo Mettle-Nunoo.