The Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has criticised the decision of the High Court in Accra, dismissing his party’s application to stop the Electoral Commission from re-collating the results of five constituencies where NDC parliamentary candidates had earlier been declared winners.
According to him, the judge threw out his party’s suit and ordered the re-collation and re-declaration of the results of the affected constituencies without following due process.
Speaking to the media after the judgment of the court on Friday, December 20, 2024, Edudzi said that the court claimed that the declarations were fraudulent without any proof.
“The judge, without any contrary evidence from the EC or a deposition by the returning officers in their respective places that the declarations they made were fraudulent, said they were fraudulent. Where he got the evidence of fraud, I don’t know. Because my understanding is that at least somebody must come to court, put rival evidence of fraud before you or duress, and prove it.
“This morning the EC only came and said on point of law. In fact, the Electoral Commission’s own lawyer never talked about the videos. But the court said those elections are tainted with fraud. How he came to the conclusion that there was fraud, I don’t know,” he fumed.
The NDC legal affairs director indicated that as far as his party is concerned, their candidates are still the Members of Parliament-Elect for the affected constituencies.
He accused the EC of being biased because it had deliberately called for the re-collation of constituencies won by only the NDC.
He added that his party is waiting to see how the order for re-collation would be enforced, without indicating whether they would comply or not.
“I have five MPs, all of them here, declared by the Electoral Commission. Jean Mensa sits in her office and says she has invalidated it. Do you know the danger if we allow this absurdity to continue? Tomorrow, a president that has been declared winner, a deputy chairperson can sit somewhere and say no, I don’t agree.
“And remember, all the 5 MPs have been declared for NDC. The same Electoral Commission has not spoken about Damongo because that was declared for the NPP. So, clearly this commission is up to an agenda. Let’s see. You can have an order, but you can’t enforce it. That’s also true. Is that not the case?… As for the court order, the sheriffs and others would have to ensure its compliance. The rest we will leave to them,” he added.
Background:
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) filed an application at the High Court to stop the Electoral Commission of Ghana from re-collating the results of five constituencies where their parliamentary candidates had earlier been declared winners.
The action filed on Monday, December 16, 2024, sought an order of judicial review in the nature of declaration, certiorari, prohibition, and injunction.
Per the action, the NDC, which is the 1st Applicant, contends that declarations made in the December 7 elections in favour of Faustina Elikplim Akurugu (Dome Kwabenya), Baba Sadiq (Okaikwei Central), Ewurabena Aubynn (Ablekuma North), Ebi Bright (Tema Central), and Samuel Aboagye (Obuasi East) – 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th applicants respectively, cannot be re-collated and re-declared.
The NDC again submitted that the EC, following their earlier declarations, “has become functus officio and therefore cannot re-collate, recount, and re-declare the results of the already declared election results in the stated constituencies.”
The party also sought an order prohibiting the respondent from re-collating, re-counting, and re-declaring the already collated and declared parliamentary election results in the Dome Kwabenya, Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, Tema Central, and Obuasi East constituencies.
However, during proceedings on Friday, December 20, 2024, the High Court, presided over by Justice Rev. Joseph Adu-Owusu Agyeman, threw out the application.
It indicated that there was a basis for the re-collation to be done. It went ahead to order the Electoral Commission of Ghana to go on with the re-collation.
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, at a press briefing at the EC headquarters in Accra, said that returning officers who declared the results for the affected constituencies were forced to do so without following the required processes.
She added that in all of these constituencies, the winners were declared without the results from a significant number of polling stations.
In the Okaikwei Central Constituency, for instance, the EC boss pointed out that the winner was declared without the results of 31 polling stations, and in the Ablekuma North Constituency without the results of 62 polling stations.
“In Okaikwei Central, I did mention that 110 polling station results were used to declare a winner instead of 141. The commission would not uphold that process.
“In the Ablekuma North constituency, 219 polling station results were used to declare a winner instead of 281 polling station results. The commission would not uphold that declaration. In Tema Central, the DO again was threatened and he was forced to declare results using 146 polling stations instead of 148. The commission would not uphold that declaration,” Jean Mensa said.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
