Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has lambasted the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) for its handling of parliamentary election results.
The EC had earlier declared the results for Dome-Kwabenya, Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, and Tema Central as invalid due to procedural irregularities.
On December 13, Samuel Tettey, the Deputy EC Chair for Operations, explained in a press briefing that the results could not be upheld because they did not comply with the procedures outlined in CI 127, despite police presence at the collation centres to oversee the re-collation process.
However, speaking to GHOne TV ahead of the parliamentary session on December 16, Ablakwa argued that the EC’s subsequent decision to re-collate results was unlawful.
According to him, the EC has no legal basis to engage in re-collation under C.I 127, and only a court of law can order such a process.
He also criticised the EC for conducting re-collation at police depots, calling it “the heights of illegality.”
Ablakwa claimed that the EC’s actions are politically motivated, aimed at saving face for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He added that the majority of Ghanaians are demanding the resignation of EC Chair Jean Mensa and an end to the NPP’s influence over the commission.
“The EC was engaged in an illegality. the EC knows that under C.I 127, they have absolutely no legal basis to engage in re-collation. Only the court of our country can order a re-collation. And you cannot go and be collating results in some other regions at a police depot, I mean the heights of illegality. This EC continues to show that they are so incompetent, they are so inept, they will do anything to save faces for the NPP. That’s why the vast majority of Ghanaians are demanding the Jean Mensa, the NPP foot soldiers will just have to leave.”