Minority Reject Court Ruling On Kpandai

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has expressed disagreement with the High Court ruling on Monday that nullified the cancelled the entire results of the 2024 Parliamentary election in the Kpandai constituency and ordered a rerun within 30 days.

The Kpandai constituency is currently represented in Parliament by Matthew Nyindam, on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) but the Court ordered a rerun of the polls based on a petition filed by Daniel Nsala Wakpal, the 2024 National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate.

The petitioner’s case was that the December 2024 parliamentary results from 41 out of a total of 152 polling stations in the Kpandai constituency contained some inconsistencies and irregularities but the Court’s ruling was that the results from the entire 152 polling stations should be annulled and the entire elections held again.

A statement signed by Minority Leader, Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin said “the records show a transparent process, a credible declaration, and a result that reflected the will of the people. It is important for the public to have a full understanding of what occurred before, during and after the collation.”

The statement explained why the Minority Caucus disagrees with the running that the entire elections be rerun:

“Hon Mathew Nyindam won the parliamentary election with a margin of 3,734 votes. After the NDC secured the presidential results, the NDC parliamentary candidate, Hon Daniel Nsala Wakpal, gathered a group of supporters who arrived at the collation centre in a Mahindra pickup wearing NDC T-shirts.

They damaged some ballot boxes in an attempt to interrupt the collation, believing that the Electoral Commission would not have the pink sheets required to complete the declaration. The tension that followed created serious security risks. This led the Electoral Commission to move the final declaration to its regional office in Tamale. All NDC agents had already signed the pink sheets at every polling station across the constituency, confirming the accuracy of the results.

“When Hon Wakpal realised that he had lost the election, he refused to go to Tamale for the collation. The Electoral Commission continued with its work and declared Hon Mathew Nyindam the winner with 27,947 votes, while Hon Nsala secured 24,213 votes.

“Hon Wakpal later challenged the results in court. His case focused on his absence in Tamale and on clerical errors in 41 out of 152 polling stations. During the trial, the main witness for the NDC stated that the total votes in contention were about 500. Even if the court had awarded all 500 votes to the NDC candidate, he would still have lost by more than 3,000 votes. Despite this clear position, the Tamale High Court has nullified the entire results and ordered a rerun in the constituency. This decision raises concerns because the facts did not support the ruling. A notice of appeal and an application for a stay of execution have both been filed.

“The Kpandai parliamentary election was conducted in a transparent and accountable manner. The results reflected the choice of the people. The Minority Caucus remains committed to the rule of law and believes that the appellate process will restore confidence in the democratic outcome delivered by the voters of Kpandai”, the statement noted.