Election 2020: Jean Mensa admits that Akufo-Addo did not get 51.595%

The chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Adukwei Mensa, has admitted to facts that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo did not get the 51.595% of the total valid votes cast in the December 7 2020 presidential election.

This came to light in the Petitioner’s Request to Admit Facts served on the 1st respondent which was not responded to by the 1st respondent as stated in the petitioners written closing address filed to the Supreme Court pursuant to leave granted on the 22nd February 2021.

On January 18, 2021, the petitioner’s solicitor served on 1st Respondent, under order 23.of C.I. 47, a request to admit facts in the petition they have filed with the Supreme Court seeking the 1st respondent to admit that the purported declaration of the Presidential Election results of December 7, 2020, by Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, on December 9, 2020, was broadcast live on radio, television and other electronic media.

The said order provided that: A party may at any time, by serving a request to admit, request any other party to admit for the purpose of the cause or matter only, the truth of a fact or the authenticity of the document. The request shall be as in Form 12 of the schedule. A copy of any document mentioned in the request to admit shall, where practicable, be served with the request, unless a copy is already in the possession of the other party.”

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According to the petitioner, The Request to Admit facts was duly made in terms of Form 12 in the schedule, then filed and served on 1st Respondent. A copy of the recording of the declaration was not served with the Request because it had already been provided to Respondents as Exhibit A attached to the witness statement of Petitioners’ Witness 1. The Order 23 rule 3(1) provides that: “A party on whom a request to admit is served shall respond to it within fourteen days after it is served by serving on the requesting party a response to request to admit. The response shall be as in Form 13 in the schedule.”

In the Rule 3(2) of the same order, it provides for the effect of not responding to a request to admit facts as follows: “Where the party on whom the request is served fails to serve a response as required by sub-rule 1, the party shall be deemed, for the purposes of the cause or matter only, to admit the truth of the facts or the authenticity of the documents mentioned in the request to admit.”

The petitioner by search conducted at the instance, disclosed that the Request had been served on the 1st Respondent on 19th January 2021.

In the request to admit facts, according to the petitioner, the 1st Respondent had already admitted to all the facts therein. By the lack of response within fourteen days, 1st Respondent is deemed to admit not only the truth of the statements in the Request to admit facts but also the authenticity of Exhibit A that is the video recording of the declaration she made. The admission of all the facts contained in the paragraphs of the Request to admit facts means that all the corresponding paragraphs in the witness statement and in the Petition are admitted by 1st Respondent.

Attached is a copy of the Request to Admit Facts:-

1. That the purported declaration of the Presidential Election results of 7th December 2020, by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, on 9th December 2020, was broadcast live on radio, television and other electronic media.

2. That Exhibit A attached to the Petition herein is the video and audio recording of the purported declaration in respect of the Presidential Election results of 7th December 2020, made by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, on 9th December 2020.

3. That Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, has made no other purported declaration in respect of the Presidential Election results of 7th December 2020.

4. That while making the purported declaration of the Presidential Election results of 7th December 2020, on 9th December 2020, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, stated that “.. ……….the total number of valid votes cast was 13,434,574 representing 79% of the total registered voters”.

5. That while making the purported declaration of the Presidential election results of 7th December 2020, on 9th December 2020, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, stated that 2nd Respondent of the NPP obtained 6,730,413 votes, representing 51.595% of the total valid votes cast.

6. That Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensah, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, also stated in the purported declaration of 9th December 2020, that “currently the election results we have declared exclude that of Techiman South Constituency”.

7. That Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensah, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, gave a figure of 128,018 as the voter population of Techiman South Constituency.

8. That adding the voter population of Techiman South Constituency to the total valid votes of 13,434,574 valid votes announced by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, amounts to total valid votes of 13,562,592.

9. That 1st Respondent’s votes as announced by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, in her declaration of 9th December 2020 – 6,730,413 – amount to 49.625% of 13,562,592.

10. That when the percentages of the valid votes cast and standing to the names of each of the Presidential Candidates as announced by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, on 9th December 2020, are summed up, they would yield a total of 100.3%.

11. That Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensah, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, in her purported declaration on 9th December 2020, stated that the results from Techiman South Constituency were not yet available.

12. That Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, in her purported declaration on 9th December 2020, stated that even if all the 128,018 votes of Techiman South Constituency were added to the votes standing to the name of Petitioner, that would not change the results.

13. That Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, refused to accept a letter (Exhibit B) written by the NDC to her in which the NDC, through its authorised and accredited agents, raised concerns and notified her of material errors in her collation of the results of the 7th December 2020 Presidential Election.

14. That a purported “correction” of figures in the declaration made by Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, was by virtue of an unsigned Press Release of 1st Respondent on 10th December 2020.

15. That the purported “correction” issued in an unsigned Press Release of 1st Respondent on 10th December 2020, stated that the total valid votes cast was now 13,119,460.

16. That the purported “correction” on 10th December 2020 changed the number of votes claimed to have been obtained by the other Presidential Candidates in the purported declaration of 9th December 2020.

17. That in respect of the purported “correction” and subsequent “correction” of the “corrections”, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa, the Chairperson of 1st Respondent, has never sought to confer with the agents of candidates.

18. That the sum total of valid votes attributed to each candidate in the purported “corrections” of 10th December 2020 are different from the sum total of valid votes that were recorded on the summary sheets (Form 10) published by 1st Respondent.