The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Frimpong Kodua, has raised serious concerns about the impartiality of Ghana’s state institutions, accusing them of acting under political influence and undermining democratic principles. His comments follow the Electoral Commission’s controversial decision to rerun parliamentary elections in 19 polling stations within the Ablekuma North constituency.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, July 8, Mr. Kodua questioned the integrity of both the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Ghana Police Service, suggesting they may have failed in their duties during the collation process.
“So that is why it’s important that our institutions are supposed to be impartial. That’s why it’s important our institutions are supposed to be professional,” he said.
He criticized the police for failing to provide security during the collation of results from three polling stations, an event he described as crucial to finalizing the parliamentary outcome. When host Evans Mensah asked whether the NPP, which was in government at the time, should accept blame for the breakdown in law and order, Kodua shifted the blame.
“So are you trying to tell me that the reason why the police failed to provide security for us to complete the coalition of the three outstanding polling stations was because they were working under the behest of this government (NDC)?” he asked.
Kodua also took aim at the EC’s rationale for the rerun, suggesting the Commission is using security concerns as an excuse to deviate from a lawful court directive.
“The EC said that they needed security, per your knowledge, under the instruction of the president,” he said, implying political interference.
He pointed to a January 4, 2025, court order, which, according to him, instructed the EC to collate and declare results, not to conduct a fresh election.
“The Court made an explicit pronouncement that EC, we are giving you an order of mandamus — go and collate the outstanding polling stations and declare the results. The court never said, go and do a rerun,” he emphasized.
When pressed on why the party hadn’t returned to court to enforce the order, Kodua was adamant that legal steps were already underway.
“That is why we are in court. Do you know the details of our writ?” he asked. When informed that the writ sought an injunction against the rerun, he responded, “So do you know other strategies that we are putting out? So I’m telling you, we are in court, and the EC has been cited for contempt.”
He maintained that only the court has the power to vary its own directive, not the Electoral Commission.
“The directive from the court [was] explicit. Go collate and declare. And you cannot vary the order of the court. Even if… You had a legitimate concern that the directive… is unenforceable, the only remedy is to go back to the court to get a further directive or a varied directive,” he stressed.
Warning of the precedent the EC’s decision could set, Kodua said allowing the Commission to rerun elections without legal backing could damage future democratic processes.
“It does not lie on the EC to conduct elections and after elections sit in the office and say that for convenience sake… we are going to do a rerun. That will be a bad precedent for this country,” he warned.
He closed by defending the NPP’s legal actions, including the contempt application, as a necessary measure to uphold the rule of law and electoral accountability.
“There’s a reason why the EC’s work is to conduct elections, but anything that departs from that… it is only a court of competent jurisdiction that can lead that directive,” he concluded.
