There was no results collation in Techiman South – Samson Ayenini confirms

Private legal practitioner and host of current affairs programme NewsFile, Samson Lardy Ayenini has said there is confirmation for now that the Electoral Commission of Ghana did not collate parliamentary results for the Techiman South Constituency.

According to the lawyer, this is violation of a requirement by Regulation 43 of C.I. 127.

The EC has stated that the NPP’s candidate Martin Adjei Mensah-Korsah won with 49,682 votes representing 50.2 percent of the total valid vote cast, whilst the NDC’s candidate Christopher Beyere Baasongti had 49,205 votes representing 49.8 percent of the total valid votes cast.

On this basis, the NPP’s candidate was declared the MP-elect for Techiman South.

The opposition NDC, on the other hand, has served notice it will not sit quietly over “the travesty of justice” that threatens to deny its parliamentary candidate for Techiman South in the 2020 general election, Christopher Beyere Baasongti the right to represent the people of the constituency in parliament.

At a press conference last week, the Minority Caucus in Parliament said a simple collation of all polling station results in the constituency shows Beyere won the seat by 293 votes, polling 50,306 votes against the ruling New Patriotic Party’s Martin Kwaku Korsah’s 50,013.

There have been calls on the EC to do the right thing by collating the results and publishing the results.

But in a write up, Lawyer Ayenini said the EC must also apply the law to punish its officer in Techiman South for failing to collate results.

He wrote among others; “...Meantime it is settled fact, for now, that EC officer in Techiman South did not collate (Form One C) as required by Regulation 43 of C.I. 127."

"Is the EC thinking of having him dealt with as having committed an offence as required by Regulation 45 of C.I. 127?” he wrote.



Read his full opinion below:

Pray – A true horseshoe parliament with only one independent sitting at the curve at commencement on January 7, 2021. Equal numbers at each side as there is no majority party.

A majority party would have sat on the right side and the minority party on the left. There is the start of the problem. Who sits where because whoever gets to form the majority caucus (not same as majority party), will only get to form it after a speaker has been elected and the independent officially writes to inform speaker of his decision to do business with that party. So until speaker is elected and the processes consummated, there will be no majority caucus.

This means there will be decision on majority usual/traditional seating side for a majority party when the house convenes on January 7. A speaker must be elected before MPs-elect can be sworn-in and for caucus to be formed, right? If the Hohoe injunction is in effect or confirmed to affect January 7, matter come for NPP.

There is every reason the public commentary on both sides must reflect this 137 v 137 dilemma. If the President decides or is forced by this 137 outcome to have not more than 80 ministers, 41 of that number will come from the NPP’s 137. It will be left with less than 100 MPs guaranteed to be present in the jurisdiction and in the house always.

Consensus building is not a choice in the 8th parliament even if NDC ever managed to overturn the presidential results and formed the government. Meantime it is settled fact, for now, that EC officer in Techiman South did not collate (Form One C) as required by Regulation 43 of C.I. 127.

Is the EC thinking of having him dealt with as having committed an offence as required by Regulation 45 of C.I. 127?