Court sets Jan 4 to rule on mandamus application 

The High Court in Accra will on Saturday, January 4, 2025 make a determination on whether or not the Electoral Commission  (EC) should collate the parliamentary results for Okaikwei Central, Tema Central, Techiman South and Ablekuma North. 

This comes after lawyers for the Electoral Commission, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) closed down the curtains on their arguments in respect of the mandamus application. 

Applicant

Moving the motion at the High Court in Accra on Wednesday (Jan 1), Gary Nimako Marfo pointed the court to a video which was played in open court. 

He alleged that the person seen holding an A4 sheet in the video on the day of the deviation was one Mr John Nunoo and not the EC’s returning officer, Mr Kwesi Brobbey. 

As a result, he is asking the court to compel the EC to complete the collation process and declare who won the election for that constituency. 

Meanwhile, in the video that was played in open court to support the NPP’s argument, the Deputy National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Malik Basintale, was heard saying, “Our issue is not with the police, our issue is with the EC Officer. We will bring him out to declare Ebi Bright, whether he likes it or not he’ll declare the results here and if the NPP does not like it, they can go to court”. 

Mr Marfo said, “If the position canvassed in the affidavit in opposition of the interested parties is made to stand it will be a very dangerous recipe in this country. Because all what it will mean is that without the full complement of votes from all polling stations, anybody at all can just mass up at the collation centre to purport to made declaration  which duty rest with authorized and determined officers of the EC to be done in a prescribed manner according to law. 

“Collation without incorporating the entire polling station votes, can never be called collation in the eyes of the law  but what it seeks to do is that persons who have gone to cast their ballot are being disenfranchised,” he said.

NDC 

But this was contested by the NDC lawyer, Godwin Tameklo. 

He argued that the NPP’s own applicant admitted in his affidavit that there was a declaration and that it was done without including two polling stations. 

To substantiate his claim, Mr Tameklo referred the court to a letter written by one of the NPP applicants,  Charles Forson who wrote to the EC demanding the Commision  to direct the returning officer to properly collate and declare in accordance with law. 

He further argued that there was proper declaration by the EC hence there was no need to collate the results. 

“It is not the duty of this court to make a determination on who won an election, they’re inviting you on a very slippery path. My lord, in a mandamus application is it within the remit of this court to make findings of alleged thuggery, intimidation, duress and breaches of law ?? “What then will we do in an election petition,” he said adding that mandamus cannot be used to determine a disputed demand. 

Again, counsel made reference to a letter written by the then Minority Caucus dated Dec 21, 2020 requesting the EC to re-collate results in some alleged disputed constituencies. 

He said the EC’s response was that, “Once results have been declared, a dissatisfied party cannot request for recollection. 

“Today the EC is saying that after declaration, they can go back and possibly re-declare that same results.Where is that legal duty?,” he said

In the case of Okaikwei Central, counsel said the NPP applicant in a letter prayed the EC to essentially revoke the declared parliamentary results adding, “This is a clear case recognised for the purposes of an election petition”. 

Addressing an allegation of falsification in the case of Techiman South,  counsel explained that “where there is an allegation of falsification is made or any form of fraud is made, you cannot resolve it by way of judicial review but a petition.

“The determination of that fraud cannot be made through a judicial review assuming for the sake of argument the commission did not provide the alternative or so called geneuine summary sheet for the court to make a comparison,” added. 

For Ablekuma North, he said the letter emanating from the NPP applicant purporting to demand for collation and declaration had no acknowledgment of receipts on the face of the said exhibits.

EC 

For his part, Justin Amenuvor, counsel for the Electoral Commision prayed the High Court to make appropriate orders that will enable the Commision to complete the collation process in the various collation centers in dispute. 

“If this court does not make the appropriate orders for the EC to go and finish its work in the presence of the very limited number of persons outlined in the Constitutional Instrument (C.I 127) a dangerous precedent for our democracy will be set whereby all manner of thugs, hoodlums, will evade constituency collation centers and even without the appropriate forms in prescribed in the C.I for the election raise the hand of somebody holding an A4 sheet and saying that it is done,” he said. 

Counsel added that neither the NPP nor the NDC had presented by evidence to the effect that the EC officers declared thier candidate winner.