By Benjamin A. Commey
Accra, May 09, GNA – Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a flag bearer hopeful of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has filed an interlocutory injunction against the Party’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2023.
The campaign team of the former Finance Minister had earlier raised concerns about the credibility of the Party’s Voter Register for the election.
In a suit filed on Tuesday, May 09, 2023, and sighted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Dr Duffour demanded that the Electoral Commission put on hold the primaries pending the production of a complete photo album register.
He also wants the Party to deliver the complete register to him at least five weeks ahead of the election.
Dr Duffuor in the writ explained that data from only 220 out of the 275 constituencies had been verified, adding that an exceptional list of 74,799 had been created, which could not be verified because of scanty information provided about them in the Photo Album Register.
Again, he alleged that, for no credible reason, 3,910 eligible voters at the 220 constituencies had been disenfranchised.
Dr Duffuor added that a sizeable number of the eligible voters had no photographs exhibited on the Photo Album Register making it impossible to conduct any meaningful verification exercise on those persons.
Also, he indicated that, the photo album put out by the Party’s election committee with the “knowledge, consent and tacit” approval of the General Secretary of the Party would compromise the integrity of the election to his (Dr Kwabena Duffuor) detriment.
“The Plaintiff maintains that the reluctance to extend the time for the internal elections and provide a complete and credible photo album register ahead of time to the presidential aspirants for verification smacks of a plan to create an undue advantage for manipulation of the presidential primaries,” he added.
Meanwhile, leadership of the NDC indicated its commitment to resolve concerns raised by Dr Duffuor.
Mr Mustapha Gbandi, a Deputy General Secretary of the Party, in an interview with the media earlier, said “I can assure the general public that the executive committee of the Party will make accessible to all aspirants information relevant to the election on Saturday.”
He added that “they (aspirants) have already had the delegates’ least one month ago, they have also gotten about 80 per cent of the album for which they came up with their complaint only yesterday in our meeting. And so, because you have presented a complaint yesterday, and you haven’t had an answer doesn’t mean that the election is flawed.”
GNA