Tema Central: Dafeamekpor rejects court order to complete collation of results

Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor, has raised strong objections to an Accra High Court’s directive ordering the Electoral Commission (EC) to complete the collation of parliamentary results for the Tema Central constituency, by including results from two outstanding polling stations.

In a ruling on Saturday, 4th December, the court, presided over by Justice Forson Agyapong, granted a mandamus application filed by New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidates. The ruling directed the finalisation of results for four disputed constituencies—Tema Central, Okaikwei Central, Ablekuma North, and Techiman South—by 6th January 2025.

Justice Agyapong annulled the previously declared results for Tema Central, which had favoured the NDC’s Ebi Bright, citing the need to collate results from all 148 polling stations before a final declaration could be made.

However, addressing the media after the court hearing, Dafeamekpor, who also serves as lawyer for Ebi Bright, expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling. He claimed the disputed pink sheets from the two outstanding polling stations were fabricated by the EC’s presiding officers.

We opposed those two pink sheets on grounds that they were fabricated after the close of polls on 7th December at 5pm. We invited the presiding officers in respect of those two polling stations. They admitted that when the polls closed, they were tired and exhausted. So they brought the pink sheets to the EC office, where they were instructed by their EC Metro Director to complete them.

He continued:

The duplicates we have do not include the presiding officer’s name, signature, the year of the election, the time of close of polls, or the date of the election. These are required under Regulation 43 of C.I. 127 and Regulation 39(23) of C.I. 127.

The lawmaker, therefore, argued that including these outstanding polling stations in the collation process would be problematic, particularly since the credibility of the pink sheets remains in dispute.

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