Court blocks Ernest Kumi’s inauguration as Akwatia MP again
The Koforidua High Court has placed an injunction on the swearing-in ceremony of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate, Ernest Kumi, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia Constituency.
At the hearing of the case today, the court affirmed its earlier injunction against the inauguration ceremony of the MP scheduled for January 7.
The Akwatia seat was one of several contested in the recent elections, with the results declared by the Electoral Commission at the National Police Training School in Tesano, Accra.
It will be recalled that on January 2, 2025, the court granted an injunction request filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate, Henry Boakye Yiadom, against the Electoral Commission (EC), Ernest Kumi, and the Clerk of Parliament, halting Kumi’s swearing-in ceremony.
On December 12, 2024, Mr. Kumi of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was declared the winner with 19,269 votes, while Henry Boakye-Yiadom of the NDC polled 17,206 votes.
After hearing arguments in the case, the court issued an interim injunction, effectively barring Mr. Kumi from being recognised as the MP-elect for the Akwatia constituency until further notice.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for the NPP, Gary Nimako Marfo, argued that the injunction was improperly filed and based on an inappropriate petition.
He further challenged that election results can only be challenged 21 days after they have been published and gazetted, urging the court to dismiss both the injunction order and the petition entirely.