Pressure Group Democracy Hub has filed a lawsuit at the High Court in Accra seeking to halt the upcoming Ayawaso East parliamentary by-election.
According to the Democracy Hub, NDC’s Ayawaso East primaries were characterised by widespread vote buying, inducement, and monetisation, which they argued undermines democratic principles enshrined in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Democracy Hub lawsuit stems from the alleged vote-buying during the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries held on February 7, 2026.
The pressure group lists NDC as the first defendant, with the Electoral Commission (EC) as the second, and the Attorney-General as the third.
Democracy Hub is seeking the High Court to quash the EC’s recognition of Baba Jamal as the NDC candidate and to restrain the Commission from accepting or acting on his nomination, calling for a fresh primary to be conducted in accordance with democratic principles.
Parts of the suits read, “An order of mandamus directed at the 2nd Defendant to refuse to accept or act upon the nomination of the said candidate unless and until a primary conducted in accordance with democratic principles is held.”
“A declaration that the parliamentary primary conducted by the 1stDefendant for the Ayawaso East Constituency, having been found to have been characterised by widespread vote buying, inducement and monetisation, did not conform to the democratic principles required under Article 55(5) of the Constitution, and that the continued reliance on the outcome thereof and the presentation of a candidate founded on that process constitute actions contrary to and inconsistent with the Constitution in violation of section 9 of the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574).”
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has cleared Baba Jamal of his vote-buying allegations during the party’s parliamentary primary held on Saturday, February 7.
According to the NDC, they are unable to annul the Ayawaso East parliamentary primary, as several constraints block the annulment of the primary.
He further cited that the Electoral Commission is expected to close nominations for the by-election on Wednesday, February 11, which leaves the NDC no room to restart the process.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, February 10, the NDC’s General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey, stated, “The committee’s report is that ideally, we should have annulment of the primary. However, the committee acknowledges that there are real obstacles that make it difficult for us to do that. The party’s constitution doesn’t have a provision for annulment of the election.
“We are time-bound because we need to present a candidate to the EC on February 11, and there are legal challenges that could be mounted by whoever won. In light of that, the party has taken the recommendations, and we have no option but to present Baba Jamal as our candidate,” he said.
He added, “We’re going to do a comprehensive review of the whole process that led to our internal elections. We’re expanding the committee by adding four more members, to make it a 7-member committee, so that they come out with recommendations to deal with this inappropriate canker as far as the elections are concerned”.
Furthermore, the EC has scheduled the Ayawaso East by-election for March 3, 2026, with the Democracy Hub suit now putting the name in jeopardy.
See the post below:
Democracy Hub files suit at High Court seeking to halt the March 3 Ayawaso East by-election, alleging the NDC primary was marred by widespread vote buying and inducement.#3NewsGH #TV3GH pic.twitter.com/gJj6Jno9mW
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) February 16, 2026