Court to rule on NPP’s bid to lift injunction against Ernest Kumi’s swearing-in

The Koforidua High Court has scheduled Monday, January 6, 2025, to deliver its judgment on the parliamentary election petition for the Akwatia Constituency.

The court presided over by His Worship Justice Senyo Amedahe, sat on Sunday, January 5, to hear an application filed by the legal team of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate, Ernest Kumi, challenging an earlier injunction issued by the same court. The injunction had prevented the swearing-in of Kumi as the Member of Parliament-elect for Akwatia Constituency.

The Akwatia seat was one of several contested in the recent elections, with results declared by the Electoral Commission at the National Police Training School in Tesano, Accra.

On Thursday, January 2, the court had granted the request of the NDC parliamentary candidate, Henry Boakye Yiadom, for an injunction against the Electoral Commission, Ernest Kumi, and the Clerk of Parliament, prohibiting Kumi’s swearing-in.

NPP counsel, Gary Nimako Marfo, argued that the injunction was improperly filed and based on an inappropriate petition. He urged the court to not only set aside the injunction order but to dismiss the petition entirely. He further submitted that election results can only be challenged 21 days after they are published and gazetted.

Meanwhile, Mintah Larbi, Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC in the Eastern Region, expressed confidence in the court’s handling of what he described as an injustice in the December 7 elections. “We are positive about the outcome in light of our submissions today,” he said.

Counsel for NPP’s Ernest Kumi, Gary Nimako Marfo, asked the court to set aside the interim injunction order granted on January 2, along with all related processes. After the proceedings, he declined further comment