Recollection of 5 Seats NDC Won: What about Damongo? - Eduzi chides 'agenda-driven' EC

The Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has slammed the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) over its insistence on re-collating the results of five constituencies where NDC parliamentary candidates had earlier been declared winners.

Speaking to the media on Friday, December 20, 2024, Edudzi accused the Electoral Commission of having ill intentions with its insistence on having the results of said constituencies re-collated.

He indicated that the EC’s excuse for the recollection of the results is that its officers declared the results under duress, which is not factual and has not been proven by the commission.

On the contrary, he said, constituencies in which election results were declared amid violence and at unauthorised places, including the Damongo Constituency, have been ignored by the EC because they were won by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He said that the re-collation and re-declaration of the results for the constituencies in question cannot happen because it sets a very dangerous precedent.

“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,” he said.

The NDC legal affairs director, who made these remarks while reacting to a court order for the EC to re-collate the results of the 5 constituencies, 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.

“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.”

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.

BAI/EK

Watch as Jean Mensa addresses issues with 9 constituencies whose results are yet to be declared