Okaikwei Central residents protest declaration of Boamah as MP

Tensions were high at New Fadama, within the Okaikwei Central Constituency in Accra last Tuesday as some residents took to the streets to protest the victory of Patrick Yaw Boamah, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate, in the 2024 parliamentary election.

The protesters, who expressed dissatisfaction with the results, burned car tyres along the Abeka stretch and called for justice for Baba Sadiq Abdulai, the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate.

According to the protesters, Mr Baba Sadiq was initially reported as the winner but was unfairly denied victory.

The protests followed the conclusion of the collation process based on a court order, after which Mr Patrick Boamah was declared the winner.

The court had heard that an earlier declaration announcing Baba Sadiq as the winner excluded some polling station results, making the process incomplete and irregular.

The court agreed and ordered that those results be added to complete the process. 

Heavy security

The exercise, conducted by the Electoral Commission (EC) at its Greater Accra Regional Office under heavy police and military security, declared Patrick Yaw Boamah the
winner with 21,099 votes.

His NDC opponent, Baba Sadiq, secured 19,368 votes. Residents are demanding transparency, alleging irregularities in the process and accusing the EC of bias.

"We believe Mr Baba Sadiq won the election.

The re-collation has robbed us of our choice.

We will not rest until justice is served," a protester stated.

Assemblyman

The Assemblyman for the area, Mohammed Marzuk, said he believed that the election results had been manipulated by the EC to  favour the incumbent. 

"Why should there be a re-collation after a declaration had been made at the constituency level? This is a fraud," he said. 

Despite the demonstrations, Mr Boamah remains the duly declared winner and is set to retain his seat in Parliament for another term. 

The court process was initiated after disputes arose over results in several constituencies during the 2024 parliamentary election.

Interestingly, Patrick Boamah had previously vowed to challenge the election results in court, after Baba Sadiq Abdulai of the NDC was initially declared the winner.