Call NDC leaders and supporters to order – Richard Ahiagbah to John Mahama

The Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has urgently called on President-elect John Dramani Mahama to call the leadership and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to order ahead of the collation and declaration of all pending parliamentary election results.

Mr Ahiagbah made the call in a post on X on Friday, 20 December 2024, in reaction to a recent post by the Greater Accra youth wing of the NDC calling on their members to go and occupy collation centres following an order of the high court directing the Electoral Commission (EC) to take immediate steps to collate and declare the results of all pending constituencies where the same is yet to be done.

“We remind the NDC of its commitment to peace, which was expressed by signing the Peace Pact. The party leadership and the President-Elect, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, are responsible for urging their members to uphold the principles of the Peace Pact,” Mr Ahiagbah posted on his X handle.

“The NDC and the Office of the President-Elect cannot continue to ignore the disruptive behavior of their structures and grassroots members. This is unbecoming of a government in waiting,” the NPP director of communications, Richard Ahiagbah, further wrote on his X handle.

In a related development, the High Court, presided over by Justice Rev. Fr. Joseph Adu Owusu Agyemang, on Friday, 20 December 2024, ordered the Electoral Commission of Ghana to collate or re-collate and declare the parliamentary election results for all the 9 disputed constituencies.

The constituencies include Ablekuma North, Nsawam Adoagyiri, Okaikwei Central, Obuasi East, Ahafo Ano North, Ahafo Ano South West, Tema Central, Dome Kwabenya and Techiman South constituencies

The court’s ruling follows a mandamus application filed by the NPP’s Legal Affairs Director, Gary Nimako, for and on behalf of the party’s parliamentary candidates in the affected constituencies. The application sought to compel the EC to discharge its constitutional and statutory functions of collating and declaring election results in accordance with the law.

The court also ordered the security forces, particularly the IGP, Dr George Akufo Dampare, to provide armed security to ensure that the exercise goes on in a serene environment as required by law. This has become necessary to forestall the chaos that characterized the previous attempts to collate the parliamentary results of these constituencies.

The court also heard a Judicial Review Application filed by the NDC for an Order of Certiorari and Prohibition directed at the EC to quash its decision to re-collate the results of the 2024 parliamentary elections of 5 out of the 9 constituencies on grounds that the various EC Returning Officers had already declared same and to prohibit or injunct the EC from undertaking any re-collation.

The judge took cognizance of the conduct of party thugs who besieged the various collation centers and forced EC officials, including Returning Officers, to declare incomplete results for their preferred candidates contrary to law and concluded that a court of law CANNOT lends its support to clear acts of lawlessness and illegality.

According to the court, perpetrators of illegality cannot benefit from their illegal acts. Consequently, the court ruled that all such declarations made under DURESS, including threats, as determined by the EC, are null and void and of no effect.