Amenuvor cross examines Mettle-Nunoo

Witness is reminded of oath he took previously before questions and answers started

Lawyer Amenuvor: Mr Mettle-Nunoo, prior to you going into the strong room, did you familiarise yourself with the rules governing the 7^th December elections?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: My Lord, yes I did.

Lawyer Amenuvor: I believe you are referring to C.I 127?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Exactly so.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now, you know that under C.I 127 the collation results that came to the EC headquarters that you describe as the strong room are only the presidential election results regional summary sheets Form 12, is that correct?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: That is not the only information. That is not correct.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now, if you look at the rules, what are you to receive from the regions, tell the court?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: In C.I 127, the functions of the Regional Collation Officer as spelt out…

Counsel interjects.

Lawyer Amenuvor: No, I am not talking about the Regional Collation Officer; I am talking about what you receive in the strong room. If you want to read you need to seek permission from the court.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: No, you asked; you asked  me an initial question that do I know the processes in the strong room, and I said that the regional results as submitted to the strong room should not just include the summary, it should include the 275 constituency results that make up that summary. You cannot present a summary without justification of a summary. So logically, the summary is justified in terms of verification by the representatives of the presidential candidates in the strong room, by consenting that the additions of the summary are, indeed, true and accurate before you certify.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now let’s move on. You granted an interview on the premises of the EC on the 8^th of December 2020 to Kwesi Parker Wilson of Joy FM, do you recall?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Yes, I do recall.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now in that interview, among other things that you said, you said that the NDC had deployed 275 lawyers throughout all the constituencies in Ghana, do you recall?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Yes I do recall.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now you also said that your party had deployed over 16 lawyers to all the regional centers in Ghana, do you recall?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: I do recall, that is correct.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Did those representatives of yours, did they perform their roles diligently?

Rojo Mettle Nunoo: The legal representatives of the party as deployed in the 275 constituencies and in the 16 regional collation centers of the EC performed their duties, but they are not the returning officers of the EC.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now if they did perform their duties diligently, which pre-supposes that under the rules the set forms that were being churned out at every time had duplicate copies, is that agreed?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: The legal representatives were not the assigned persons to have the duplicate copies. It was the party’s election directorate that was mandated by the party to assemble and receive the duplicate pink sheets.

Lawyer Amenuvor: And those duplicate pink sheets were received by the agents appointed by the petitioner at each constituency, and for that matter, the regional level, is that correct?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: If you are referring to the pink sheets that were officially handed over at the end of the collation, yes that is correct. But in some other instances, many, many other pink sheets also decided to appear.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now, you have testified that you made a mistake in certifying [the] Ashanti Regional summary sheet in your paragraph 11, is that correct?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: My Lords, I indicated that I made a mistake on the Ashanti summary sheet declaration in the EC’s strong room for very specific reasons.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now, when did you realise that mistake?

Witness interjects.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: I haven’t finished answering the question please, your lords, I haven’t finished answering the question.

Lawyer Amenuvor: You are not to repeat your statement, just answer the questions and let’s move on please. I am asking the questions.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: I have answered the question and I have supporting arguments for the answer I have given you. Am I not permitted to elaborate on that?

Lawyer Amenuvor: You are not supposed to make arguments; you are just supposed to answer my questions.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: I am not arguing with you; I am not arguing with him my Lords; I am not arguing with you. I am saying you have to give me a fair opportunity to answer the questions. I am a witness. I must be given a fair opportunity to answer the questions.

Lawyer Amenuvor: I am saying that the next question I have for you is when you realised this monumental mistake of yours? Tell the court.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Which monumental mistake are you referring to?

Lawyer Amenuvor: You are saying that in the National Headquarters of the EC, you made a mistake in certifying the Ashanti results. That is a monumental mistake, so tell this court when you realised that. Paragraph 11 of your witness statement; tell the court.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Before the signing, I had opportunity to speak to Dr. Serebour Quaicoe about my concerns that I had observed. I drew his attention to some observations that I had made on the summary sheets, and he said he was going to make phone calls to the region to find out the concerns that I had raised. Indeed, he made some phone calls; so it is not as if I just got up and signed; there is a sequence; there is a process that led to me finally signing. But I did complain initially to Dr Quaicoe and he made phone calls to the region.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Now, are you aware that after you were denouncing what Broja Genfi had done, one of the lawyers you sent to the Ashanti Region, Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu, cam e out to speak against what you were doing, because they the legal team, after certifying everything, told Broja Genfi that it was okay to sign Ashanti. I am putting that to you.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: I am not aware that a lawyer said anything contrary to what I was doing in the strong room; I have no knowledge of that, my Lords.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Well, I can show it to you, it was all over on social media and the media as well. Now…

Witness interjects.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: No, no, you were asking me to testify, and I am saying I have knowledge of it. Social media was not available to me in the strong room.

Lawyer Amenuvor: You also stated that you know in order for me not to look like I am a trouble maker; I also certified some of the forms. It’s in your evidence-in-chief. Do you recall that? It’s in paragraph 21 I think.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: I specifically indicated that I was cooperating fully at the Electoral Commission as a representative of the presidential candidate I was representing. I had a mandate to be there to seek his interest, and I was cooperating with the EC in that regard. There are previous instances of how the EC conduct the business of the strong room, and that includes the opportunity for representatives of each political presidential candidate to explain or to seek explanations and to discuss issues as and when they arise in the strong room.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Let me read for you what you said in paragraph 21. You said: “I must also say that the fact that I signed sheets in respect of a number of regions shows clearly that my colleague and I were not there to put spokes in the wheel of the process of getting the proper basis for a constitutionally appropriate declaration of the results of the presidential election to be made.” So I am asking you that on the form that you certified, you said you made a mistake on some; some you didn’t want to put a spoke; so tell the court, which form did you certify that you were satisfied with, and which forms did you certify that you made a mistake?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Can you kindly repeat the question please, you were speaking too fast so I couldn’t hear you.

Lawyer Amenuvor: I said in one vein you are telling the court that you made a mistake in signing some of the forms. In another vein you are saying, “Oh I do not want to put spokes in the way so I signed the forms.” Tell this court, because you have signed quite a number of forms, 13; tell this court which ones did you sign making mistakes, and which ones did you sign not wanting to put spokes in the works?

Rojo Mettle Nunoo: Very well my Lords, to the best of my knowledge and recall, if I may be given a little time to pick up the summary sheets, I will take them one by one.

Counsel tries to raise an objection, but court interjects.

Court: Please, if he wants to refresh his memory I think you can ask for leave, but we will not allow him to be looking into processes which we don’t have access to and not in evidence to be answering questions.

Witness’ lawyer, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, asserts that what his witness, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, was doing was inappropriate and said it should be indicated to him.

Tsatsu tells Rojo that he is not allowed without leave of the court to refer to documents. He said if Rojo wants to refer to any document, he should tell the court the document he wants to refer to.

Tsatsu: What document do you want to refer to?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: My Lord I am looking at the 16 regional summary sheets.

Tsatsu: And where did those summary sheets come from?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: The summary sheets that I am referring to are summary sheets that were made available to my team in the strong room during the collation of the results from the regional level.

Tsatsu: My Lords, we respectfully ask for leave for him to make reference to those documents.

Counsel for 2nd Respondent, Lawyer Ampaw, interjects.

Lawyer Ampaw: My Lords, those 16 regional summary sheets are not part of any of the exhibits in this case. He cannot refer to them.

Court: He participated?

Lawyer Ampaw: My Lord, I am saying that as a matter of law, a party cannot refer to a document that is not in evidence to answer a question. It is not the right way to go?

Court: A witness is in the box, especially in matters which we have to resort to documentary evidence, there may be a mass of evidence and the witness may not have ready knowledge of everything. If he has something to do with it, it is allowable. He is not a witness from nowhere; he is on oath as having said that took part as agent for the petitioner in the strong room. He probably has access to these summary documents.

Lawyer Ampaw: My Lord, my problem is whether the document he is referring to is an official document. He is saying so, but we don’t know, and it’s because it is not a document exhibited in these proceedings.

Lawyer Amenuvor: My Lord, the issue that we have at hand is that the petitioner refused to put any evidence before the court. Now the witness (Rojo Mettle-Nunoo) says that he has a summary sheet. With the greatest respect, I would want him to tell us; he should tell us my lords.

Mr Amenuvor, in other words, you have no objection to him referring to what he claims to be summary sheets?

Lawyer Amenuvor: Yes my Lord.

Court: So let’s go on

Lawyer Amenuvor: Yes my Lord. He should tell us; tell us the summary sheets that you signed and the ones you didn’t sign.

Tsatsu: My Lord, respectfully Counsel for the 1st Respondent says he has no objection, but I believe Counsel for the 2nd Respondent raised an objection, and I believe your lordships may want t consider that, and your Lordships may wish to hear me on that. Your Lordships will realise that before I even asked your Lordships leave, I asked him what document he was referring to and where he got it from. So my Lords, it is clear that those are documents that are official documents. He has sworn an oath. The fact that they are not evidence has nothing to do with the witness refreshing his memory referencing those documents.

Lawyer Amenuvor tells Mr Mettle-Nunoo to answer his earlier question

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: My Lords very well, the answer to the question is in two parts. There are some documents that I signed or certified. They are Upper West Region.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Let’s go on, Upper West Region, your regional agent had signed on that Form 12, not so?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Yes please, the NDC agent signed. The summary sheet was officially signed at 3:26pm on the 8th of December.

Court: Mr Amenuvor, I was reminding you of something. You see the question you asked, you asked him to give you summary sheets which he signed as a result of mistakes, and those he signed because he didn’t want to put impediments in the EC’s way. Now, he is doing so, then after mentioning one you stop him and ask another question. You see, when you do that you confuse the whole process. Let the witness answer the question to the end, and after that maybe you can take them region by region.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Well my Lords, please continue.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: My Lords, please may I continue? My Lord, I also observed that that the forms that were sent to the strong room…

Court interjects.

Court: No, no, no, Mr Mettle-Nunoo, you are to tell the court the forms that you certified by mistake and those that you certified because you didn’t want to put spokes in the wheels. That is what you are supposed to do.

Tsatsu: My Lord respectfully, there is nowhere in the witness statement where the witness said I signed some because I didn’t want to put spokes in the wheels.

Court: Mr Tsikata that was the question that was on the table, and that is what we are waiting for the answer.

Tsatsu tries to interjects, but court asks him to hold on.

Court: I beg your pardon Mr Tsikata, may I finish. Paragraph 21 of his witness statement, he says “I must also say that the fact that I sign sheets in respect of a number of regions shows clearly that my colleague and I were not there to put spokes in the wheel of the process of getting the proper basis for a constitutionally appropriate declaration of the results of the presidential election to be made,” and this is the paragraph that was read to him, and my years are open to listen to the answer, could you kindly let the witness give an answer?

Tsatsu: Well, but if he is repeating the question by misleading the witness…

Court: He is not misleading.

Tsatsu: I am talking based on what is in that paragraph. Because he says the witness should tell us the ones he signed because he didn’t want to put spokes in the wheel, the witness never said that.

Court: That is the question we asked him.

Court asks witness to proceed.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Northern Region, I had problems with that one so I did not certify it.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Please go to the next one.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Ahafo; I certified Ahafo without having full access to the relevant constituency summary sheets, but I signed it.

Lawyer Amenuvor: What other region?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Central Region; I signed Central Region but I had serious observations on the summary sheet in the way it was signed.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Very well, what other region?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Volta Region; I signed Volta Region, but then again, without the full complement of the various constituency results.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Very well, let’s go on.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Western North Region; I signed Western North Region but we had issues with Seftwi Wiawso.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Let’s go on to the next.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Greater Accra Region; I did not certify Greater Accra Region because there were issues with the Greater Accra Region summary sheets and how they came into the strong room.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Let’s go on to the next.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Eastern Region; In the case of Eastern Region we received two different summary sheets in the strong room.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Mr Nunoo, did you certify Eastern or you did not?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: I was raising subsequent issues with the Commissioner.

Lawyer Amenuvor: Meaning you certified Eastern Region right?

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: There is supposed to be just one summary sheet and not two.

Lawyer Amenuvor: You have said so in your evidence-in-chief; your two colleagues have also said same. Please go to the next region.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Pardon, please what did you say?

Lawyer Amenuvor: I said go to the next region.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo: Does it mean not answering your question anymore?

Lawyer Amenuvor: I am satisfied with the answer. Go to the next region.

To be continued.

 

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