The Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has called for an investigation into the Electoral Commission (EC) over what he claims was a deliberate attempt to mislead the Supreme Court in the Kpandai parliamentary dispute.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, the lawmaker argued that the EC’s handling of the gazette dates in the case was not a clerical mistake but a calculated move that affected the candidate’s legal rights and shaped the outcome of the proceedings.
“In fact, we haven’t lost well in the Kpandai case as the Supreme Court has been misled, because these material facts were all hidden from the Court,” the South Dayi MP said.
Mr Dafeamekpor’s comments come on the back of the legal contest involving the Kpandai seat and the dispute around the timing and validity of gazette notifications, which determine when an election result becomes official and when an aggrieved party can properly go to court.
According to him, the issue began when the EC communicated with Parliament on December 23, yet later aligned its court narrative with a December 24 gazette date in a manner he believes was intended to defeat the NPP’s claim that the case was filed prematurely.
“They had to do it to align with the NPP case, that the gazette notification was 24th December and, therefore, we went to court prematurely,” he said.
He insisted that the legal action was filed based on the date EC Chairperson Jean Mensa wrote to Parliament.
“Meanwhile, we went to court on the date Jean Mensa wrote to Parliament, 23rd December,” he added.
Mr Dafeamekpor said the situation was worsened by what he described as a confused state of the gazette notifications, arguing that the seat numbering had exceeded the limits allowed by the Constitution.
“The gazette notifications were in a confused state, because the seat numbers had exceeded those constitutionally mandated,” he said.
“If you are gazetted 274 and you are gazetted another additional four, you have 278 seats. Where is the overlapping team coming from?” he asked.
He claimed the EC later took steps to correct the situation on January 6, but then sought to disown that publication in court.
“So they took steps to clean it up on the sixth of January. Now he comes to court and denies the 6th January Gazette publication as an error and calls it a genuine mistake,” he said.
When asked by the host whether the issue could be a genuine error, Dafeamekpor rejected the suggestion, insisting that the number of parliamentary seats is fixed and cannot be mistaken.
“How can that be a genuine error?” he asked. “You can’t get numbers wrong, because the number of parliamentary seats is fixed.”
“It is either 276 or not,” he added. He accused the EC’s legal team of misleading the Supreme Court when questioned about inconsistencies.
“The NPP lawyer stood in court, and when Justice Pwamang queried about the date inconsistency, they said it was a genuine mistake,” he said. “But I have established over time that there was nothing genuine about this. It was deliberate.”
Mr Dafeamekpor said the matter goes beyond legal technicalities and has caused harm to the affected candidate.
“For me, it is the injustice done to Nsala Wapkal,” he said.
He said Parliament or any investigative body could probe the matter and indicated he would raise it on the Floor of the House.
“The EC has to be investigated,” he insisted.
He also argued that gazette dates are central to electoral justice, because under the law, a candidate’s right to challenge results in court only matures after gazetting.
“If they toy with the dates, they dance with it… your right to go to court will be affected,” he said.
“That’s exactly what is at play in this matter.”
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com