The National Executive Council (NEC) of the University Teachers Association of Ghana branch in the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UTAG-UPSA) has rubbished a petition by the UPSA Electoral Commission and has declared Dr. Mohammed Sadat as UTAG UPSA President elect.
The petition was to help resolve the Association’s recent Presidential election issues. The NEC went ahead to declare Dr. Mohammed Sadat as the newly elected president in the election in question, at their NEC Meeting held on the 10th of August 2023 at the Eastern Premier Hotel in Koforidua, Eastern Region. The NEC of UTAG-UPSA, chaired by Professor Solomon Nunoo, was petitioned by the chair of the local electoral commission (EC) of UTAG-UPSA, Dr Frederick Doe, to help resolve an impasse in their recent Presidential election on the 10th of August, 2023. In a letter to the council, the electoral commission explained that their recent Presidential election held on 9th of August, 2023 ended with one casted vote missing.
This, as a result gave one of the candidates, Dr. Mohammed Sadat, a one vote advantage to win the election; should they go by the UTAG National Constitution and not the 50% + 1 rule employed in the election. According to Dr Frederick Doe, the EC suggested a recount of the votes after the first counting gave Dr. Mohammed Sadat 149 of the votes casted and Dr Fred Awaah, the other candidate, 148 of the votes casted with one (1) of the votes casted missing and another being a spoilt vote. Dr Doe continued that, Dr Awaah readily accepted the suggestion but Dr Sadat rejected it, claiming victory in the election. However, upon consideration of the above petition and explanation by the UTAG-UPSA EC, the NEC of UTAG, unanimously ordered that Dr. Mohammed Sadat be declared as the newly elected President of UTAG-UPSA. They cited a bullet in a circular that was released by the Association’s National Secretariat with reference number UTAG/NAT/2023/INL-005 on 20th July, 2023; as the basis for their decision. This bullet states that, “where there is a variation between the UTAG National Constitution and that of any Branch By-Laws and Electoral Guidelines, the UTAG National Constitution shall supersede the Branch By-Laws and Electoral Guidelines”.
The NEC also quoted Section 2 of Article XVIII of the UTAG National Constitution that states “the declaration of results must be by ‘simple majority'”. The NEC, then concluded by ordering the UTAG-UPSA EC to immediately declare the election results, without touching on the main bone of contention, been the missing vote that can change the results. They however, directed for any party that has a problem with the declared results to petition the council. Below are the copies of the NEC letter, EC Petition to NEC, Declared Election Results.
