{"id":115019,"date":"2026-02-12T06:04:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115019"},"modified":"2026-02-12T06:04:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:04:46","slug":"ayawaso-east-vote-buying-inusah-fuseini-warns-against-self-authorising-annulment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115019","title":{"rendered":"Ayawaso East Vote-Buying: Inusah Fuseini warns against \u2018self-authorising\u2019 annulment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 44 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Inusah Fusseini, a member of the NDC\u2019s Ayawaso East Investigative Committee, has warned that how the party handles the controversy surrounding its parliamentary primary could shape public perception and test the credibility of its promise to \u201cdo things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express on Wednesday, the lawyer and former Tamale Central MP said the electorate gave the NDC the mandate to govern \u201con the promise that we will do things differently,\u201d and that standard must apply to the party\u2019s internal conduct as well.<\/p>\n

He cautioned that if issues such as the Ayawaso East claims are not handled properly, \u201cit will sap the confidence\u201d of the public, and supporters could \u201cdraw their obvious conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee was set up after allegations emerged that aspirants offered inducements, including television sets and cash, to delegates during the primary held on Saturday, February 7.<\/p>\n

Fusseini said the committee\u2019s work led to a clear finding. \u201cWe came to the conclusion, unalloyed and firm conclusion that there was widespread illegality\u2026 the vote buying and inducement,\u201d he said, adding that it \u201cwas not limited to one candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

He revealed that the committee indicated the party could consider annulling the results. Asked by host Evans Mensah if that was part of the recommendations, Fusseini responded, \u201cYeah,\u201d but stressed that the committee also warned of serious obstacles.<\/p>\n

He explained that the election was conducted and supervised by the Electoral Commission and the results were certified by the EC \u201cas being credible.\u201d<\/p>\n

That certification, he said, raises a fundamental legal question. \u201cThe jurisprudential issue here is\u2026 can a political party overturn the verdict of the Electoral Commission when they did not conduct the election?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Fusseini acknowledged that many in the public are demanding annulment, and that the pressure is partly driven by perception. \u201cPeople have a feeling that the self-authorising act of a political party in a situation like this, will give that act\u2026 political force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But he insisted that the key issue is whether such an action would be legally valid. \u201cPeople have the feeling, and they are entitled to have that feeling, but the question is whether it will have a legal basis to stand up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Fusseini described what happened in Ayawaso East as \u201cacts of impunity,\u201d saying the conduct violated several laws, including the Political Parties Act, the Representation of the People\u2019s Act, CI 127, and even the Constitution. He said it also violated the party\u2019s own values, ethics, and philosophy.<\/p>\n

However, he challenged the logic of responding with another questionable act. \u201cNow, do you deal with impunity by acting with impunity? Do you deal with a wrong by acting wrongly?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

He warned that annulling an EC-certified result could damage the country\u2019s electoral credibility. \u201cGovernance-wise, you will be destroying the sanctity and integrity of the Electoral Commission if you do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also cited internal party limits, noting that the closest provision is Article 52, which allows the National Executive Committee to act when the constitution is silent.<\/p>\n

Finally, he noted the time pressure. The committee submitted its report \u201cyesterday at 4 pm,\u201d and \u201ctoday is the final day to present a candidate,\u201d raising practical hurdles even if the party decides to pursue annulment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express on Wednesday, the lawyer and former Tamale Central MP said the electorate gave the NDC the mandate to govern \u201con the promise that we will do things differently,\u201d and that standard must apply to the party\u2019s internal conduct as well.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5363,2313,10,9,240],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ayawaso-east","category-ndc","category-politics","category-popular","category-vote-buying"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}