The gazetting of the declaration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the winner of the 2020 presidential election by the Ghana Publishing Company Limited and the tribute by the Head of the African Union Observer Mission in Ghana to monitor the 2020 elections, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe, to late former President Jerry John Rawlings are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the declaration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the winner of the 2020 presidential election has been gazetted by the Ghana Publishing Company Limited (GPCL).
That makes the declaration legally binding and recognised in law.
The gazette was done on December 10, 2020, a day after the declaration by the Returning Officer of the presidential election and Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs. Jean Mensa.
In the 2016 general election, the EC declared the winner of the presidential poll on December 9, submitted it for gazetting on December 12, while the actual gazetting took place on December 14, 2016.
The declaration of the 2020 presidential election, which has been gazetted, is a constitutional instrument (CI 135) signed by Mrs. Mensa.
Gazetting is the last stage in the presidential election declaration process and is in line with Regulation 44 (12) of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020, CI 127.
With the gazetting done, any of the presidential candidates in the 2020 presidential election, who is aggrieved by the results can now file a presidential election petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the declaration by the EC.
The newspaper says that the Head of the African Union (AU) Observer Mission in Ghana to monitor the 2020 elections, Mr. Kgalema Motlanthe, has idolised late former President Jerry John Rawlings, describing him as someone who contributed to the liberation struggle in South Africa.
According to him, the late former president was indeed “a true friend of the liberation struggle in South Africa”.
Mr. Motlanthe, a former Vice President of South Africa, said this when he visited the Ridge residence of the late former president to commiserate with the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, and children.
He also acted as President of South Africa between September 25, 2008 and May 9, 2009 when President Thabo Mbeki resigned.
Mr Motlanthe who was at the residence to express his deepest condolence to the family of the late Rawlings, noted that he got to know Mr Rawlings when he was serving a 10-year prison term on the Robin Island in South Africa.
He said he was inspired by positions that Rawlings adopted when he was President of Ghana, adding that it was at the end of apartheid when he got out of prison that he got to know him (Rawlings) personally.
“I felt it’s a duty to pay my respects as well as share with you our condolences and deep sense of loss,” he said.
The Graphic also reports that the Director of the Judicial Training Institute (JTI) and Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Samuel K. Marful-Sau, has reiterated the judiciary’s commitment to settle all electoral disputes that come before the court.
According to him, the timely disposal of electoral disputes was one of the key tenets of the country’s democratic processes, hence the need to resolve them within the shortest possible time.
He was speaking at the training of 35 selected court registrars of the Supreme, Appeal and High courts on electoral laws.
Justice Marful-Sau observed that there was agitation after the December 7 elections and said: “I know you have listened to radio and read the newspapers and there is so much agitation. I can see that so many cases will come to the court especially parliamentary election disputes.
“Candidates may decide to come to court, and when they come, we should not fail them because we are expected to deliver justice within the shortest possible time,” he said.
The training was organised by the Senior Staff Association of the Judicial Service of Ghana (SSA/JUG), in collaboration with the JTI and the STAR Ghana Foundation.
The Times says that a fetish priest and two Nigerians have been arrested by the police in connection with the attack and assault on the MP-elect of the Keta Constituency, Mr. K. Dzudzorli Gakpey, and his family, at his residence at Anlo-Afiadenyigba, on Saturday.
The suspects are Vincent Kwatsikor, the fetish priest, who hails from Anlo-Afiadenyigba, Alfred Ebiye and Kamanta Uchenna, both Nigerians.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) in-charge of the Volta Region, Edward Oduro Kwateng, who disclosed these to the Ghanaian Times, in Ho, yesterday, said that four other Nigerians, connected to the incident, were on the run.
DCOP Kwateng said that Ebiye and Uchenna were living in Anlo-Afiadenyigba prior to the incident.
He recalled that while the MP-elect and his family were fast asleep in the night, the suspects, who were armed with guns besieged his house and subjected him and his family members, including his septuagenarian parents to severe beatings.
According to the regional police commander, the gangsters made away with a pistol belonging to the MP-elect and an amount of GHS 55,000, in addition to a laptop computer and three cellular phones.
Investigations revealed that the two Nigerians in custody and the fugitives arrived in Ghana in August, this year, and were living with the fetish priest under the pretext of seeking spiritual support from him.
GIK/APA