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A private legal practitioner and law lecturer, Mrs Clara Kasser-Tee, has criticised the conduct of two Justices sitting on the presidential election petition in which leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are seeking to overturn the 2012 election declaration by the Electoral Commission. The two Justices, William Atuguba and James Dotse, grabbed the headlines on two separate occasions when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) applied to be joined as respondents in the case. On Thursday, January 10, 2013, Mr Justice Atuguba burst out in anger, charging the justices to be strong and truly independent, when the petitioners raised an objection to the composition of the panel. Mr Philip Addison, lawyer for the petitioners, neither told the court who amongst the nine justices he was objecting to, nor the grounds of the objection, but that did not stop Justice Atuguba from bursting out. �This country is solid but is breaking down because principles are being chopped down to pedestrian level. The Court must be strong and truly independent. The health of [our] country depends on us," he stated, banging the table. Although Mr Justice Atuguba did not explain the reasons for his outburst, Nana Ato Dadzie, a member of the NDC legal team, told journalists that he had heard on radio that the petitioners were objecting the inclusion of Mr Justice Atuguba on the grounds that he was related to Dr Raymond Atuguba, Executive Secretary to the President.