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A lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Law School, Justice Abdulai, has described the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend the planned parliamentary rerun election in the Kpandai constituency as a prudent, balanced, and fair intervention, despite admitting that its timing came as a surprise.
Speaking on JoyNews on Tuesday, December 16, the legal academic said the apex court acted correctly by placing an injunction on the rerun pending the final determination of a certiorari application seeking to quash the High Court decision that ordered the fresh election.
According to Justice Abdulai, the Supreme Court’s move safeguards both judicial integrity and public resources, noting that allowing the rerun to proceed could have resulted in a wasteful exercise if the court eventually overturns the High Court ruling.
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“It’s surprising, but it is a very fair decision of the Supreme Court. I think it is just right that they took this particular decision, and I say this on the basis that a certiorari application, if granted, would literally wipe out the entire judgement of the High Court,” he said.
The UPSA lecturer explained that continuing preparations for the rerun while a substantive legal challenge remains unresolved would serve no useful purpose and could create unnecessary confusion.
“Spending money and time rerunning an election which could potentially be wiped out by a grant of a certiorari application would not serve any use for anyone,” he noted.
He further warned that proceeding with the rerun could have triggered a constitutional and political dilemma in Parliament.
“Whoever even emerges the winner of the election to be run on the 30th, assuming everything were to go on, would also have to leave Parliament in a day or two right after becoming a Member of Parliament. And then the old or former Member of Parliament returns. That whole drama would not serve anyone’s interest,” Justice Abdulai explained.
He described such a scenario as a needless consumption of judicial and public resources, stressing that the Supreme Court’s intervention prevented what could have become an avoidable institutional embarrassment.
Justice Abdulai commended the Supreme Court for what he described as a well-thought-through balancing act, saying the injunction protects the interests of all parties involved while preserving the authority of the judiciary.
“I think the Supreme Court, on this particular occasion, got it absolutely right. They thought through all the options and came out with arguably one of the best decisions that favours both parties. It’s a balancing decision that ensures no party goes home completely disadvantaged,” he said.
The Supreme Court’s order has effectively placed the Kpandai rerun on hold, with the Electoral Commission and political parties now awaiting the court’s final ruling on the judicial review application challenging the High Court’s annulment of the 2024 parliamentary results.
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