The Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson, Jean Mensa of conniving with President Akufo-Addo to keep the Techiman South parliamentary seat for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a bid to secure a majority in the next Parliament.
John Mahama made the statement in a Facebook post reacting to the prevention of NDC MPs by police officers from petitioning the Electoral Commission over the results of the Techiman South parliamentary elections.
He said the recent incident is surprising and unexpected for a democracy such as Ghana’s.
“The conduct of the Electoral Commission (EC), with the tacit support of the incumbent President, Nana Akufo-Addo, using security personnel acting capriciously even towards Members of Parliament is not something anyone could have envisaged in our beloved country in the course of our 4th Republic,” he said.
John Mahama added that, “Clearly, the EC and its Chairperson are in connivance with Nana Akufo-Addo to fraudulently keep the Techiman South seat on the NPP side. This is a clear subversion of the will of the people.”
Police officers stationed at the EC on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, stopped the parliamentarians from accessing the premises of the Electoral Commission (EC) to present a petition stating their challenges with the recently held national elections and demanding the immediate collation of the 2020 Techiman South Constituency results.
The MPs led by Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and the Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak who walked towards the EC were stopped by the police who insisted they will not allow them to proceed beyond a barricaded area.
The NDC MPs failed to get their petition to EC officials after the confrontation with the police.
According to the John Mahama, the EC has assumed an unfortunate posture on the matter, describing the failure to receive the petition as “a sad day for Ghana’s democracy.”
Meanwhile, the NDC Presidential Candidate has congratulated the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and the caucus for what he described as old steps in defense of the democratic rights of Ghanaians.
“Let me congratulate the Minority Leader and the Caucus for stepping out boldly in defence of the democratic rights of Ghanaians. I salute all who have had courage to call out the EC and the Nana Akufo-Addo administration in this brazen act of trampling on the democratic will of the people.”
“I want to restate our challenge to the EC, to come out and show Ghanaians their Results Summary sheet and pink sheets for the Techiman South Constituency,” Mr Mahama stated.
The NDC legislators have threatened to boycott all activities of the Electoral Commission (EC) after they were blocked by armed police officers from petitioning the Commission on Tuesday, December 22, 2020.
Whist the NDC insists that its parliamentary candidate, Christopher Bayere Baasongti is the legitimate winner of the Techiman South constituency seat, the NPP maintains its candidate, Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, won the seat as declared by the EC.
Meanwhile, the State has sued Haruna Iddrisu and 10 other members of the minority caucus in Parliament for unlawful assembly at the EC’s head office.
