A Bolgatanga High Court has cancelled election results of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the CK Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, in Navrongo, in the Upper East Region.
The court gave the order after the plaintiff, Alfred Asante, a defeated SRC presidential aspirant, sought justice, claiming the elections were marred by ‘troubling’ electoral irregularities.
He accused the winner of the presidential poll, Michael Atamakira Awanah, (3rd respondent), of winning a disputed election.
The other defendants: the CK Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (Ist respondent), Mohammed Bilal, the school SRC Electoral Commission (EC) Chairman (2nd respondent), and Abdul Warris Alhassan, the SRC Interim Chairman (4th respondent), have been accused of conducting and supervising flawed elections.
The plaintiff averred that on February 17, this year, the SRC and local National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) elections were held amidst glaring irregularities.
He said this compelled some students to petition the school (1st respondent) to intervene as a matter of urgency to address the issue.
According to plaintiff, some eligible voters were disenfranchised after their portals were hacked.
Mr Asante also cited distortions and anomalies in proxy voting, vote padding, an electronic system was deliberately not outsourced, among others.
He described the process as a well orchestrated scheme to execute an electoral fraud in favour of Mr Awanah and his surrogates, which contravened the SRC Constitution.
The court presided over by Justice Charles Adjei Wilson, granted all reliefs sought by the plaintiff, saying such irregularities obviously and seriously undermined the credibility, integrity and fairness of the February poll.
“Based upon the largely undisputed facts and evidence before this court, the plaintiff succeeds on the merits of his case, and entitled to the reliefs endorsed on the writ of summons,” Justice Wilson stated.
The court, therefore, nullified the election results, citing massive abnormalities and irregularities, and ordered that the SRC President elect and other officers could not remain in office because they were not validly elected.
Justice Wilson said “It is therefore ordered that the result of the SRC/NUGS 2021/22 be quashed. All officers purported to have been elected in the said elections conducted on February 17, 2022, are restrained from holding office or performing functions and duties in the capacity as SRC executives.”
The court asked the Dean of Students and Registrar, in consultation with the student body to appoint an interim SRC executive to wield the mantle of leadership tentatively, pending the organisation and conduct of fresh elections.
The court awarded a cost of GHc10,000.00 against the defendants for sanctioning a fraudulent SRC/local NUGS elections in the school.
FROM FRANCIS DABRE DABANG, BOLGATANGA
