Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, the Majority Chief Whip, has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of deliberately manipulating gazette dates in the disputed Kpandai parliamentary matter.

The MP for South Dayi claimed the move was aimed at blocking court action.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Dafeamekpor said the Supreme Court was misled because what he described as key material facts were withheld from the court.

“In fact, we haven’t lost well in the Kpandai case as the Supreme Court has been misled, because these material facts were all hidden from the Court,” he alleged.

He said the EC and the NPP’s legal team pushed a narrative in court that the gazette notification was dated December 24, and, therefore, the court action by the opposing side was premature.

“They had to do it to align with the NPP case, that the gazette notification was 24th December and, therefore, we went to court prematurely,” he said.

Mr Dafeamekpor argued that the court action was not premature because the petition was filed on the basis of a December 23 letter from EC Chairperson Jean Mensa to Parliament.

“Meanwhile, we went to court on the date Jean Mensa wrote to Parliament, 23rd December,” he said.

He claimed the EC’s gazette notifications were already in a confused state because of inconsistencies with seat numbers, which he said exceeded the constitutionally mandated number.

“The gazette notifications were in a confused state, because the seat numbers had exceeded those constitutionally mandated,” he said.

He pointed to a situation in which the gazette reflected 274 seats, followed by an additional four seats, which he said would bring Parliament to 278 seats.

“If you are gazetted 274 and you are gazetted another additional four, you have 278 seats. Where is the overlapping team coming from?” he asked.

Mr Dafeamekpor said steps were taken to correct the anomaly on January 6, but he accused the EC of later denying that date in court and describing it as an error.

“So they took steps to clean it up on the sixth of January. Now he comes to court and denies the 6th January Gazette publication as an error and calls it a genuine mistake,” he said.

He rejected suggestions that the inconsistencies were innocent mistakes.

“How can that be a genuine error?” he asked.

He argued that Parliament’s seat numbers are fixed and cannot be wrongly communicated by the EC.

“You can’t get numbers wrong, because the number of parliamentary seats is fixed,” he said. “It is either 276 or not.”

He also questioned how the EC could write to the Clerk of Parliament while still allowing internal communications that produced conflicting figures.

He claimed that the EC’s Director of Elections later appeared in court in the name of the Commission to dispute the January 6 gazette publication, while pushing December 24 as the correct date.

“He goes to court in the name of the commission to now mislead the court that the gazette notification that he had ordered to be done on 6th January was no longer a proper one,” he said.

Mr Dafeamekpor insisted the matter has wider implications beyond Kpandai, because the date a parliamentary election is gazetted affects when an aggrieved party can legally proceed to court.

He said the law requires gazetting before a person’s right to challenge the election result becomes ripe.

“If they toy with the dates, they dance with it. If they collude with somebody to confuse you with the dates, your right to go to court will be affected,” he said.

“That’s exactly what is at play in this matter,” he added.

Mr Dafeamekpor said he believes the issue amounts to injustice, particularly to the individual at the centre of the dispute.

“For me, it is the injustice done to Nsala Wapkal,” he said.

He called for investigations into the EC’s handling of the gazette dates, saying Parliament and other investigative bodies could take up the matter.

“The EC has to be investigated,” he said.

“Parliament can do that. CID can do that. Any investigating body can do that,” he added.

He said he intends to raise the issue in Parliament, but will prioritise the review process currently underway.

“I’m going to raise this matter in Parliament,” he said. “But because we are going for a review, I want us to settle the matter on review, and then we can look at the criminal conduct of some officers.”