The Wenchi High Court has imposed a total cost of Gh¢12,000 on Mr. Christopher Beyere Baasongti, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2020 parliamentary candidate for Techiman South, who is challenging the election results. The ruling was made during the court’s sitting on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, presided over by Justice Frederick Arnold Nawurah, after the court dismissed three motions filed by the petitioner.
The court ordered that Gh¢6,000 in costs be awarded to each of the two respondents: the Electoral Commission (EC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Techiman South. The motions filed by Mr. Baasongti, which were rejected by the court, sought to appoint an independent auditor, demand the EC produce original pink sheets, and hire a handwriting expert to record the court proceedings.
Additionally, the court dismissed a motion from the petitioner requesting the court to set out the main issues for an expedited trial. Justice Nawurah ruled that Mr. Baasongti had failed to present a sufficient legal or reasonable argument for the motions to be granted.
However, the court did allow the petitioner to file and serve a supplementary witness statement.
After the ruling, Alhaji Mohammed Kwaku Doku, a prominent NDC member, spoke to the media, describing the imposed costs as an obstacle to the successful adjudication of the case. Nevertheless, he insisted that the costs would not hinder the petitioner’s pursuit of justice or prevent him from winning the case.
On the other hand, Mr. Richard Asamoah, the Techiman South Constituency Secretary for the NPP, suggested that the costs imposed on the NDC candidate were indicative of the weakness of their case.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 30, 2021, to continue with the proceedings related to the parliamentary election petition. This case is part of a series of 16 legal challenges filed by the ruling NPP and the opposition NDC concerning the results of the 2020 parliamentary elections across the country.
In his petition, Mr. Baasongti argues that, based on the votes counted at all polling stations in Techiman South, he should have been declared the elected MP. He claims that according to the pink sheets from his polling agents at the 267 polling stations, he garnered 50,306 votes, while the winner, Mr. Korsah, received 50,013 votes.
Baasongti further contends that there was no proper collation of results, as required by Regulation 43 of the Public Elections Regulations, 2020 (C.I. 127), and that the EC’s returning officer prematurely declared Mr. Korsah as the winner, despite the discrepancies in the vote count. He argues that neither he nor his representatives were invited by the EC to participate in the collation of the parliamentary results for Techiman South.
Among other requests, the petitioner seeks an order from the court requiring the EC to collate the results from all the polling stations in Techiman South and publicly declare him as the winner of the 2020 parliamentary election.
