Legal Counsel to the Minority Caucus in Parliament, John Darko, has dismissed the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) plans to seek a review of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Kpandai parliamentary election, describing the move as unnecessary and unlikely to succeed.
According to him, applications for review at the Supreme Court face an extremely strict test, making it difficult for any party to convince the apex court to reopen its own judgment.
“There is no way the court will even give you the opportunity. And I am not sure they will be able to meet this high threshold. It is important when you are before the Supreme Court, and they have set the rules very clearly in a lot of decision before the Supreme Court. To get the Supreme Court to even admit that it will review its own decision, it is a high threshold, and I don’t think that they can meet that threshold,” he said.
Mr Darko urged the NDC to respect the outcome of the case instead of pursuing further litigation.
His comments come on the back of remarks by the NDC’s Majority Chief Whip, Nelson Rockson Dafeamekpor, who earlier hinted that the party was considering a review of the ruling.
On Wednesday, January 28, the Supreme Court, in a 4–1 majority decision, set aside the Tamale High Court judgment that annulled the Kpandai parliamentary election won by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Matthew Nyindam.
Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang, who sat on the panel, dissented from the majority view.
The ruling followed an application by Mr Nyindam invoking the Supreme Court’s supervisory jurisdiction, arguing that the High Court acted outside its authority when it nullified the election.
The court upheld the application and restored Mr Nyindam as the duly elected Member of Parliament for the Kpandai Constituency.
At the heart of the case was the date the Electoral Commission (EC) officially gazetted the 2024 parliamentary results for Kpandai.
Under Ghana’s electoral laws, an election petition must be filed within 21 days after gazette notification. Any petition brought outside that window deprives the court of jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Mr Nyindam argued that the EC gazetted the results on December 24, 2024, meaning any petition filed beyond the 21-day period was legally incompetent, a position the Supreme Court ultimately upheld.
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