The Majority Caucus in Parliament has advised the Minority Caucus, led by the Minority Leader, Mr Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, to desist from what it described as “peddling falsehood” against Justice Emmanuel Brew Plange, the Judge of the Tamale High Court, regarding his ruling ordering a rerun of the parliamentary election in Kpandai within 30 days.
The Majority Caucus said the Minority should rather focus on how to win the upcoming rerun, noting that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was already campaigning in Kpandai for its parliamentary candidate, Mr Daniel Nsala Wakpal.
Since the ruling on Monday, Mr Afenyo-Markin had described the conduct of Justice Plange as “unacceptable” and alleged that the Judge had issued the order without delivering the court’s full judgement. The Minority Leader further claimed on the floor of Parliament on Friday that the Judge had failed to provide the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpandai, Mr Matthew Nyindam, with the full judgement on the day of the ruling, despite giving an assurance that he would do so.
However, the Majority Chief Whip, Mr Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, told the media on Friday that the Minority Leader’s assertion was untrue and should be disregarded.
He explained that the judgement delivered by the Tamale High Court indicated that the 2024 parliamentary election in Kpandai had been marred by numerous infractions and incidents of violence. Mr Dafeamekpor also stated that both Parliament and the Electoral Commission (EC) had been served notice of the case, and that Mr Nyindam had already filed a notice of appeal on three grounds.
“If you don’t have the judgement, there is no way you can file grounds of appeal or a notice of appeal containing grounds of the appeal. So, the supposition that the Judge is yet to deliver the full reasoned judgement of the court, as a result of which Mr Nyindam is incapacitated in filing his appeal, is totally false,” Mr Dafeamekpor emphasised.
“In fact, Mr Nyindam had followed it up by filing for a stay of execution of the judgment and orders of the court. If you do not know the content of the orders of the court, how do you apply for a stay, and yet he applied for a stay,” Mr Dafeamekpor argued.
He said that the Majority Caucus would resist any attempt by Mr Afenyo-Markin to throw Justice Plange “under the bus”, adding that, “as Parliament and MPs, we must always speak to the truer facts.”
“They (the Minority Caucus) lost the matter, and they are dazed. I will advise them that the battle ground is in Kpandai and not at the foyer of Parliament or a long press statement citing inaccurate facts to the public,” Mr Dafeamekpor said.
“We, the NDC, we are on the grounds working, and as we speak, we are in Kpandai campaigning. They won’t come and campaign, and when they lose, then they blame innocent people because this time, policies would win the elections and not violence,” he added.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
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