Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has announced that parliamentary candidates whose election results were annulled by the Supreme Court are ineligible to be sworn in on January 6, 2025.

The Supreme Court on December 27, 2024, nullified the re-collated results for the Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, Tema Central, and Techiman South constituencies, citing irregularities in the process. This decision followed a legal challenge by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against a High Court ruling, which had instructed the Electoral Commission (EC) to re-collate the results in nine disputed constituencies.

The NDC argued that the High Court’s directive was unlawful, claiming the re-collation lacked merit and was outside the court’s jurisdiction, which undermined the transparency of the electoral process.

Speaking to MPs in Accra, Speaker Bagbin expressed confidence in the Supreme Court’s ruling, asserting that the declaration of the affected candidates as MPs-elect was invalid.

“The decision of the Supreme Court aligned with my position,” Bagbin said. “To be a member of parliament, one must be elected by the people and declared by the Electoral Commission. However, only the Speaker can swear in MPs, and until that happens, they remain MPs-elect. Some of these re-collated results were completely null and void, and therefore, those individuals were not properly declared MPs-elect.”

Bagbin emphasized the importance of adhering to the law, describing himself as the “gatekeeper” to ensure that the right procedures were followed for Ghana’s parliamentary system.

Source:TheDotNews