Shame on you for having left the message for 3 hours to go drink tea – Atubiga in Rojo | Politics

Mr. Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo (Rojo), one of the two agents who represented the main opposition party National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Strong Room of the National Collation Center, must bow his head to shame for giving up his job to go for a glass of tea for three hours in the office of the chairman of the election management body, a former candidate for the party’s flag, Stephen Atubiga said.

“We are angry, we are upset. I mean, how can someone go and sit for three hours in someone’s office drinking tea and not tilt their head in shame but say, “I didn’t have a cookie.” . I mean, you have an obligation, you left the room ajar, ”Atubiga chided in an interview with Kofi Oppong Asamoah on Class91.3FM’s midday news program, 12Live on Friday March 5, 2021 .

“In the three hours that the man was sitting at the office of the President of the EC drinking tea, what can happen during those three hours? Do you know what arrangements can be made? I’m talking about Rojo. Rojo sat at the CE office for three hours, who was coordinating with him? So during the three hours nobody called him from the campaign leadership, from Afriyie Ankrah et al, from John Dramani Mahama’s office, from Joshua Alabi as campaign manager; no one was making a phone call there to monitor them and ask them questions? This means someone was sleeping at work and with no disrespect to anyone, Joshua Alabi is the campaign manager for us, it is his responsibility to coordinate with the party and all sectors to make sure we get the victory, ”he fumed.

According to him, the former president John Mahama “won this election, but our negligence started from the office of our campaign manager, then from the irresponsible representatives that we had in the office of the EC”.

Background

Rojo, who was Mr Mahama’s third witness in the just concluded election petition, told the Supreme Court when placed on the witness stand that Election Commission officials served him tea without a cookie, while he was waiting his turn to meet the president to send him certain complaints about certain qualms the NDC had with the collection of figures for the presidential election after the polls on December 7, 2020.

“I was served tea but not with cookies,” said the former deputy health minister on Monday February 8, 2021, while being cross-examined by counsel for the management body. elections, Me Justine Amenuvor, who had put the witness said that he was served tea and cookies while he was trying to hear the boss of the EC.

Mr Mettle-Nunoo also told the court that he was fired by the BOI from his vault on December 9, 2020.

“The first time I left the vault when the EC kicked me out of the vault.”

“It was the first time I left the room. The EC kicked me out of the vault, ”he insisted, adding:“ This has never happened before ”.

In previous elections, he noted, “I was there 72 hours.”

He repeated: “In the early hours of the 9th, I was sacked from the EC vault and had to drive from Accra, to community 25, where I reside. It was around 2 a.m. on the 9th. Then I must have woken up very early and walked through another two hours of traffic on it. […] corridor, back to the EC office ”.

“I left the vault for the second time to seek an audience with the electoral commissioner. It was somewhere between 3 am and 4 am, ”he said.

According to him, “… As required by law, the returning officer was also supposed to be an independent returning officer: to be fair, transparent and to decide an election with integrity. So, by virtue of these three principles, I was asked to go into the strong room to defend its interests to the best of my ability ”.

“In the case of the nuclear power plant, you had Mac Manu, John Boadu and so many other people in the vault, even though two people were supposed to be in the vault at a time. Why were they allowed to be in the room? He wondered.

He also denied threats of telling lies in court. “This is absolutely false,” he said, adding: “I swore to tell the truth and I only told the court the truth.”

The oldest representative of a political party in the Strong Room also noted that he had, in the past, been sent by the Presidents of the EC to his presidential candidate.

“This is not the first time. In my engagement with previous presidential returning officers, I had the opportunity to leave the strong room to speak to the person I represented in the strong room, then I come back with the understanding that I had been sent to do so and in this particular case, I had also been sent to do it.

“So you want the tribunal to believe that various EC presidents send you and that you obey. Is that the position? Asked Mr Justin Amenuvor, EC lawyer.

“As and when it was necessary to do it to resolve the issues,” Mettle-Nunoo said.