Dr Dominic Ayine
Members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are still yet to come to terms with their defeat in 2020 general elections following fresh private member motion filed by some five Members of Parliament (MPs) for a comprehensive investigation into the 2020 general elections.
After humiliating defeat at the Supreme Court where the party failed to table its collated results, the party is struggling to t use the backdoor to launch fresh investigations into the election considered as one of the freest in the recent history.
The lawmakers behind the probe are MP for Asawase, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, MP for Bolga East, Dr Dominic Ayine, MP for Akatsi South, Bernard Ahiafor, Buem MP, Kofi Adams and MP for Salaga South, Zuweira Ibrahimah.
The nine-point motion covers issues such as pre-thumb printed ballot papers in Ashanti; multiple declaration of results; an investigation into alleged procurement breaches, discovery of excess ballot papers, and an inquiry into violence in six constituencies.
The motion stipulates that the said probe committee must be chaired by a member of the Minority.
It is unclear when the motion will be moved in Parliament.
The NDC appears to have petitioned all relevant bodies in the country to probe the 2020 elections including the Supreme Court which ruled against their petition.
Somewhere in 2021, the NDC petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), to probe alleged illegal printing of excess presidential ballot papers in the 2020 general elections.
The petition, signed by the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, said persons found culpable after the probe should also be prosecuted.
“I write on behalf of the National Democratic Congress to petition your office to institute criminal investigations into and prosecute persons culpable in the illegal printing of over one million excess presidential ballots meant for the Ashanti Region at Innolink Printing press, one of the seven security printing firms contracted by the Electoral Commission to print election materials for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections,” a portion of the petition read.
The party said its petition was occasioned by the fact that there had not been any update on investigations on electoral malpractices and violence that characterised the election and voter registration exercise.
The party’s 2020 presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama also went to the Supreme Court over the elections citing several infractions, but he was unsuccessful in the Election Petition as he failed to adduce evidence.
However, the MP for Okaikwei Central, Patrick Boamah has questioned the essence of a private members’ motion seeking a probe into the 2020 general elections.
He described the motion as baseless, given that the court of law had already ruled that the 2020 general elections were free and fair in an earlier case filed by the National Democratic Congress.
“I believe the motion before Parliament is unfounded, and it has no basis. It is just a complete waste of the taxpayers money and time because all these processes have been undertaken by the Electoral Commission,” Mr. Boamah noted.
He emphasized that the election results were legitimately determined by Ghanaians, a situation he believes nullifies claims of rigging, among others, during the general elections.
He also accused the MPs of trying to use the “back door” to have the polls probed.
“The NDC were aggrieved by the decision of the people of this country as announced by the EC and went to court to challenge the processes that led to the declaration by the EC announcing Nana Akufo-Addo as President of the Republic so what is the meaning of this back door approach of resurrecting what has been finally determined by the constitutional court of this country?” Mr. Boamah asked.
By Vincent Kubi