Mion NDC aspirant goes to court

One of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary aspirants who contested the Mion Constituency primary in the Northern Region, Dr Mu-Awia Zakaria has filed a writ at the Tamale High Court against the Northern Regional Office of the Electoral Commission (EC) for declaring Mohammed Abdul-Aziz as the winner of the polls in the constituency.

The writ, filed last Tuesday by Dr Zakaria, is seeking the annulment of the results of the Tuwua L/A Primary School polling station because the presiding member Mr Aminu I Wuntira is alleged to be a member of the campaign team of Mohammed Abdul-Aziz,  who is the second defendant in the suit.

Dr Zakaria is also seeking  an order for the recount of the ballot papers in the Nakokpagyyili, Kulinkpegu, Bofoyili, Dabobni and Gumsi polling stations.

A copy of the writ, which was made available to the Daily Graphic in Tamale, has the Northern Regional Office of the EC and Mohammed Abdul-Aziz, as the first and second defend

Statement of claim

A statement of claim attached to the writ said the Plaintiff, Dr Mu-Awuia Zakaria, is a medical doctor resident in Accra and a candidate in the parliamentary primaries of the NDC in the Mion Constituency held on November 21, 2015.

It said the first defendant was a statutory body established  under the laws of Ghana and responsible for the administration, management and supervision of public elections in Ghana  and was charged with the management of the parliamentary primary elections of the NDC across the country including the Mion Constituency whose results is being challenged.

Second defendant

The second defendant was a candidate in the said election and was declared by the first defendant as the winner of the said election.

It said at the close of the polls, the second defendant was declared winner by the first defendant with 1,652 votes, while the plaintiff had 1,639 votes, a difference of 13 votes.

The plaintiff in the statement of claim said the election was fundamentally flawed in a number of polling stations and that but for these flaws and illegalities, he would have been declared the winner.

The plaintiff claimed further that at the Tuwua L/A Primary School polling station, the presiding member of the polling station was a campaign team member of the second defendant instead of an officer of the EC which was in charge of the management of the election.

"Indeed, Mr Aminu L. Wuntira, the presiding officer of the electoral area is also the Deputy Secretary of the NDC in the constituency, a situation which was against the party's constitution which frowns on members of the executive supporting any candidate for election. His (Wuntira) name appeared on the declaration sheet as presiding officer and plaintiff has incontrovertible evidence that he is the constituency deputy secretary of the NDC", it said.

Illegality

"Indeed, the very fact of a person other than an officer of the first defendant presiding at the election renders the election an illegality and a nullity and for which reason the results of that polling station are void and should be annulled to preserve the  integrity of the electoral process", the statement said.

It said in the Kulinkpegu and Bofoyili electoral areas, certain persons fraudulently signed the results as plaintiff's agents when they are unknown to plaintiff and were never accredited by him to be his agents. They ought to have produced their accreditation before being allowed to sign for plaintiff. For this reason, the results of those polling stations were compromised and fundamentally flawed and should be declared as such.

Again, in Gunsi electoral area, plaintiff's agent Pastor Abdulai was chased away from the polling station as a result of which he was not present to witness the count and sign the results, thereby stripping the process of transparency and integrity. For this reason, the results of that polling station should also be annulled.

Plaintiff stated that several votes cast for him were unjustifiably declared as spoilt thereby stripping some electorate of their franchise and resulting in flawed results and a wrong choice and for which reason the count needs to make a determination based on a recount conducted in open court.

Plaintiff stated further that at the Dabogni polling station, the results of four candidates including plaintiff and second defendants were round figures ending with zeros which was very strange and improbable and which casts doubts on the results declared.

First collation

The plaintiff said that after the first collation, he was found to be the winner with 1,731 votes, while the second defendant had 1,576 votes.