A five-member panel of the Supreme Court has by a unanimous decision nullified the order of the High Court authorising the Electoral Commission (EC) to collate and declare results four out of six disputed parliamentary election results.
The four affected constituencies in respect of which the Court has nullified the orders of the High Court are Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, Tema Central and Techiman South.
While Nsawam-Adoagyiri and Ahafo Ano North Constituencies, the apex Court says the order of the High Court remained.
The panel of five presided over by Justice Gabriel Pwamang ruled that it was apparent that the Court ought to have been granted the NDC’s joinder motion for it to be heard since they were an interested party.
While quashing the orders of the High Court in parts, the apex court panel which also includes; Justice Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Justice Ernest Gaewu, Justice Henry Anthony Kwofie and Justice Adjei Frimpong said the High Court violates the rights of the interested parties from being heard.
The Apex Court has also ordered that the Mandamus application which formed the basis of the High Court orders to the EC and the Inspector General of Police be freshly heard.
The parties have been directed to file their respective statements of cases two days from Friday, December 27.
The matter is assigned to a different High Court judge to deal with on December 31, 2024.
According to EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, the decision of the apex Court means that the status of the Parliamentary results remains as it was before the High Court’s order.
Present at the Supreme Court were the two Deputy EC Commissioners, Dr Eric Bosman Asare, and Samuel Tetteh as well as the General Secretary of the NDC Fiifi Kwetey and Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Majority leader.
Baba Sadiq, Awurabena Aubyyn, Ebi Bright, and some of the NDC Parliamentary candidates involved in the disputed constituencies were all present while Frank Annoh Dompreh and Akua Afriyie were also present.
NDCs argument
Moving his application, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, who was being led by Dr Abdul Basit Bamba, Marietta Brew Appiah Opong and Osafo Buabeng for the NDC and the five interested Parties (Parliamentary Candidates) argued that the orders made by the High Court breached the applicant’s rights to be heard.
It was also his submission further that their application was routed on grounds that the judge exhibited bias when its jurisdiction for a Mandamus application was not properly invoked.
Counsel again submitted that the Court got itself involved in the non-jurisdictional error of law and the said error of law occasioned a “miscarriage of justice.”
Mr Tameklo also argued that the decision of the High Court affected the applicants whose interests were directly affected by not being given the right to be heard.
Counsel submitted further that, though the motion for Joinder was brought to the attention of the Court, they were not heard and the Court went ahead to grant the request for Mandamus.
He submitted that for the person to be affected by an order or a Court decision, the party or person ought to be heard and within the context of the case, it will be a serious affront to the rule of law and constitutional requirements not to hear the other parties.
EC opposition
Lead Counsel for the Electoral Commission (EC), Justine Amenuvor while opposing to the application relied heavily on its affidavit in opposition.
He contended that all the six applicants including the five Parliamentary candidates of the NDC, none of them have stated to the court the injuries suffered by the decision of the High Court.
The EC also wondered why the National Democratic Congress which is the first interested is acting on behalf of the Parliamentary Candidates when their matters could be treated individually.
He submitted that he had not seen anything in the submission by the applicants that warranted the Court to grant their request for Certiorari.
Discretionary
Gary Nimako, Counsel for the second to seventh interested parties (NPP Parliamentary Candidates) said the Joinder motion which formed the basis of the Applicant’s application was a non-starter, which in his view, there were specific rules when dealing with Mandamus Application.
He argued that the motion for Mandamus was discretionary which the Court exercised and the remedy for an aggrieved party is to appeal at the Court of Appeal, but not with a Certiorari application.
He argued that the Court only made an order to a public office to perform a public function and therefore the order was to know the winner and the loser of the December 7 polls.
He concluded that the High Court Judge was acting within his jurisdiction and had committed no error that the Supreme Court should be called upon to vary.
He said they’re no breach of natural justice.
Background
On Friday, December 20, the High Court in Accra presided over by Justice Rev. Fr. Joseph Adu-Owusu Agyeman authorised the EC to re-collate the parliamentary election results for six constituencies.
The constituencies are Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Tema Central, Techiman South, and Ahafo Ano North.
The Court also ordered the Inspector General of Police to provide adequate security to the EC at all collation centres.
The order of the Court was made on Friday, December 20, 2024, following a Mandamus Application from six NPP Parliamentary candidates—Charles Forson (Tema Central), Frank Annoh-Dompreh (Nsawam-Adoagyiri), Patrick Yaw Boamah (Okaikwei Central), Martin Kweku Adjei-Mensah Korsah (Techiman South), Nana Akua Owusu Afriye (Ablekuma North), and Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh (Ahafo Ano North)—are requesting two critical orders.
But following the order which has since December 21, 2024 been carried out, the NDC and its Parliamentary Candidates filed a certiorari application at the Supreme Court to quash the order of the High Court.
Subject matter at Supreme Court
The motions at the Supreme Court are among other things seeking to invoke its Supervisory Jurisdiction to reverse the High Court’s order to the Electoral Commission (EC) to collate and declare results of six disputed Parliamentary election results.
Per the application, the NDC want an “Order of Certiorari directed at the High Court (General Jurisdiction 13), Accra, to bring into this Honourable Court to be quashed, the following Orders of the High Court dated the 20th December, 2024:”
The NDC is also seeking “an Order of Prohibition restraining the interested party (EC) from collating or recollating, counting or recounting and declarating the on results in the contentious constituencies and the 8th interested from providing security for the unlawful exercise of collation, …and declaration of the elections.”
The application is also asking the Apex Court for “an Order of interlocutory Injunction restraining the is interested party from collating or recollating, counting or recounting and declarating the election results in the contentious constituencies and the 8th interested party (IGP) from providing security for the unlawful exercise of collation, counting and declaration of the elections pending the determination of the instant suit.”
Though the EC had since December 21, 2024, declared seven out of the nine disputed results, the Cause list of the Apex Court had fixed Friday, December 27, 2024, to hear the applications.
Grounds of Application
Providing grounds for the application, the NDC states that, the impugned Orders of the High Court were made in breach of the Applicants’ right to be heard and that of the Inspector-General of Police.
It stated that there was “apparent bias and partiality on the part of the judge,” and “The High Court committed a non-jurisdictional error of law by failing to exercise its powers under Order 55 rule 5(2) of C.I 47 to direct the 2nd to 6th interested parties to serve the Mandamus applications on the Applicants who have interests in the subject of dispute;”
It said the “Error of law apparent on the face of the record which error of law occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice.”
