Renowned legal practitioner Tsatsu Tsikata has criticised aspects of the Supreme Court’s handling of the 2020 presidential election petition, raising concerns about how key evidence and testimony were treated during the proceedings.
He made the remarks at an Honorific Lecture and Award ceremony held in his honour by the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) on 15 April 2026.
Mr Tsikata specifically questioned the court’s decision not to take oral testimony from the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, who supervised the declaration of the 2020 presidential election results.
He argued that inconsistencies in the figures announced by the Electoral Commission should have warranted further examination of the returning officer’s role and direct questioning in court.
According to him, various figures presented during and after the declaration of results differed from what was initially announced by the Commission, creating what he described as unresolved contradictions in the official record.
“The challenge to the declaration of results formally announced on 8 June 2020 by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission required a fair and just adjudication…”
He further noted that even after a press release from the Commission’s Public Relations Office, variations in the stated figures persisted, adding to what he described as confusion surrounding the final results.
“The constitutionally designated returning officer, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission… did not testify to present the authoritative final figures, much less explain the ever-changing figures from the Commission,” he said.
Mr Tsikata further argued that the absence of what he considers a definitive explanation from the Electoral Commission has left lingering questions about the exact outcome of the election.
“To this day, therefore, the country has no definitive accounting for the 2020 presidential election…”
He also referenced public commentary that emerged after the Supreme Court ruling, including the phrase “unanimous FC,” which became widely associated with reactions to the court’s decision.
“Unanimous FC was a verdict of the people on the proceedings in the Supreme Court, which shielded the returning officer from accounting to the people of Ghana,” he said.
The remarks add to ongoing legal and political debate surrounding the 2020 election petition and its aftermath, which remains one of the most closely scrutinised cases in Ghana’s judicial history.
Source: theheraldghana.com
