Former Vice President and 2024 Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has expressed his displeasure in the manner in which Parliament is handling the case of the Kpandai seat where the Tamale High Court has ordered a rerun.
Following the order for a rerun, Parliament through its Clerk notified the Electoral Commission (EC) of the vacancy of the Kpandai seat with the EC setting December 20 as date for the rerun.
Speaking to a journalist on Thursday, December 11, Dr. Bawumia said Parliament by its action has undermined the tenets of democracy. He explained that Matthew Nyindam, the MP whose seat was declared vacant has filed for a judicial review and appeal at the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, thus the House must allow these processes to be finalised before taking any action.
According to him, the House has in the past, in reference to similar case such as the Gyakye Quayson matter, allowed the court processes to be exhausted before any action was taken.
He wondered why the House is unable to do same in the case of the Kpandai seat, insisting that Matthew Nyindam is being compelled to vacate his seat in this manner.
“To say the least I am very disappointed in what is going on in our country. It looks like our institutions of democracy and our tenets of democracy are being undermined.
“The issue of Kpandai with Matthew Nyindam is not a new issue in our democratic politics. We have had issue with Gyakye Quayson in Assin and basically, we have had the House allow the court and the legal processes to take place and be exhausted before state institutions are stampeded into acting in ways that undermine democracy.
“Matthew Nyindam should be given his day in court, he has filed an appeal process at the High court, he has filed for a judicial review at the Supreme Court, none of these cases have been adjudicated so why the rush? Why the indecent haste? I think that he is being railroaded. I think that this undermines our institutions of democracy,” Bawumia stated.
The former Chair of the Economic Management Team under the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration stressed that any further process in this matter must be suspended to allow Nyindam exhaust all court processes and adjudications.
“I think that we should take a halt to these processes and allow him to have his day in court just as others have done in the past. The House has never really rushed in this way when it came to the other cases. What is the difference with the case of Matthew Nyindam? I think it should not be the case and we should uphold the tenets of democracy,” he added.
He cautioned that Parliament’s actions undermines the pillars of democracy and may have dire consequences for the nation.
“Democracy is something precious that we have all had and we have all subscribed to. When you start undermining its pillars, you break it down and the consequences for the nation are very severe. And so, simply because you have power, you shouldn’t feel you have power to ride rough shore over your opponents and over the principles of democracy,” he remarked.
The Kpandai parliamentary seat has been declared vacant by the Speaker of Parliament, following a court ruling that the Kpandai parliamentary elections should be rerun.
A letter that the Clerk to Parliament wrote to the Electoral Commission said: “In exercise of the power conferred and the duty imposed on the Clerk to Parliament by Article 112(5), as amended, of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, as amended, I, EBENEZER AHIMAH DJIETROR, the Clerk to Parliament, DO HEREBY FORMALLY NOTIFY you of the occurrence of a vacancy in the membership of Parliament, occasioned by the Order of the High Court, Tamale, for a rerun of the Kpandai Parliamentary Elections, given on the 24th day of November, 2025.
“This notification is pursuant to the service of a court Order on the Clerk to Parliament as the 4th Respondent in the suit numbered: NR/TL/HC/E13/22/25. Accordingly, notice is hereby given.”
The Tamale High Court has ordered a rerun of the Kpandai parliamentary election within 30 days from Monday, November 24. The decision of the High Court judge, His Lordship Emmanuel Brew Plange, was due to irregularities in the voting and collation processes that undermined the credibility of the outcome.
The petition alleged irregularities in the voting and collation processes that undermined the credibility of the outcome.
The legal team of Matthew Nyindam, the MP who has been ordered not to hold himself as a lawmaker, has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal as well as a judicial review of the High Court’s decision at the Supreme Court.
