Lawyer Isaac Minta Larbi, representing the NDC’s parliamentary candidate for Fanteakwa North, Haruna Apaw Wiredu, has announced plans to initiate a contempt of court action against the Electoral Commission (EC) over the re-declaration of the Parliamentary results.
He said an injunction and writ of summons were served on the EC preventing it from going ahead to re-collate and redeclaring the results of the Fanteakwa North parliamentary election but the EC disregarded it.
According to Lawyer Isaac Larbi, the declaration made in Tesano in Accra by a so-called deputy returning officer was unlawful, as it was not authorized by law.
He argued that only the official Returning Officer, as empowered by the law, has the legal right to declare the results of the Parliamentary election.
“EC hasn’t said it has overturned it. What they have done is what we call duplicitous. They’ve just duplicated the declaration which has already happened. In this instance what they have done is that they done it wrong and not in accordance with the law. So the first one (first declaration) stands. In this country, there are only two returning officers for elections. One for parliamentary one for presidential. In terms of parliamentary the Returning officer in the Constituency for that election is the one who has the power to declare the winner. In terms of presidential the returning officer is Jean Mensah”, Lawyer Larbi stated.
He added “So I don’t know under whose authority they are saying they have done another collation. Even the very person who claims to be a deputy returning officer is seen standing by the actual returning officer in the declaration that was done by the returning officer at Fanteakwa North”.
Lawyer Larbi further emphasized that if the NPP candidate, Kwame Appiah Kodua, disagreed with the declaration, his only legal option was to challenge it in court—not to have a re-declaration by a deputy returning officer.
On December 10, 2024, the official Returning Officer, Zacharia Adams, declared Haruna Apaw Wiredu, the NDC candidate the winner of the Fanteakwa North parliamentary election, securing 11,138 votes, ahead of Kwame Appiah Kodua’s 10,847 votes.
The total valid votes cast were 21,985 out of 22,566, with 581 rejected ballots. However, NPP agents were reportedly absent when the pink sheet was signed.
On December 12, a deputy returning officer, acting in Tesano, Accra, also declared Kwame Appiah Kodua, the NPP’s parliamentary candidate as MP-elect for Fanteakwa North with 11,751 votes, surpassing Haruna Apaw Wiredu’s 11,297 votes.
Lawyer Larbi, who also serves as the Eastern Regional Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC, asserts that the actions of the EC amount to contempt of court and is prepared to take legal action accordingly.
“Their conduct at this stage with respect to their second so-called declaration is already contemptuous of the court because as of yesterday (Wednesday) in the afternoon, a writ was issued together with an application for an injunction which was served on the Electoral Commission and they are fully aware, their officers have confirmed we have prove of service in the courtroom then this morning you say you have gone ahead. At this stage, their remedy does not lie in re-collation. The bottom line is that the NPP candidate had lost if he is not happy he cannot go and hide in someone claiming to be deputy returning officer. The proper procedure is to go to court”
Lawyer Larbi said his client is the duly declared MP-elect for Fanteakwa and will be sworn -in on January 7, 2025, until a court of competent jurisdiction overturns and nullifies the Returning Officer’s declaration.
