A Koforidua High Court has adjourned to Monday, January 6, 2025, to rule on an application filed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to set aside an interim injunction preventing the swearing-in of Ernest Kumi as the Member of Parliament-elect for the Akwatia constituency.

On Thursday, January 2, the court granted the request of the NDC parliamentary candidate, Henry Boakye Yiadom, against the EC, Ernest Kumi, and the Clerk of Parliament, prohibiting Kumi's swearing-in.

Counsel for the NPP, Gary Nimako Marfo Esq., who moved the application, argued that the ex parte injunction was filed based on a petition that was improper before the court. He urged the court not only to set aside the injunction order but also to dismiss the petition itself.

He further submitted that the results of an election can only be challenged 21 days after they have been published and gazetted.

However, the lawyer for the NDC parliamentary candidate, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, disagreed, stating that the submissions made by Gary Nimako Marfo were flawed.

He argued that once election results are declared, they can be challenged and that there is no need to wait for the gazette before contesting the results.

In his closing submissions, Gary Nimako Marfo sought to raise additional arguments to support his case, but the judge, His Lordship Senyo Amedahe, stopped him after the NDC lawyer objected, pointing out that he was essentially re-arguing his case.

Several legal authorities were cited in support of the application, with the NPP urging the court to dismiss the case, as the injunction is only an interim one, which lapses after 10 days. The injunction application would then be repeated for further argument.

After the hearing, the head of legal affairs for the NDC in the Eastern Region, Isaac Minta Larbi, told journalists, "The NDC was properly before the court, without blemish, and the court should take a firm stand so we can demolish them. We opposed their application on valid grounds, and we believe that, in the end, we will have a positive outcome."

Counsel for the NPP, Gary Nimako Marfo, declined further comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, newly-elected MPs are to be sworn into office on the midnight of January 7, 2025.