Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a flagbearer candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), withdrew from the race Sunday night.
Dr Duffuor sought an interlocutory order on Tuesday, May 9, to prevent the party from having primaries today, Saturday, May 13, citing issues with the party’s voter registry.
He eventually dropped the claim after meeting with the Council of Elders and receiving promises that his issues would be investigated.
In an address to the media in Accra on Thursday evening, he cited many reasons for withdrawing from the contest after months of intensive campaigning across the party’s numerous seats.
Unacceptable violation of trust by the Council of Elders/Party: The flagbearer aspirant claimed that the party and the Council of Elders behaved in bad faith after pledging to address the anomalies he revealed before the primaries.
Failure of the party to form a technical committee: According to Dr Duffuor, the Council of Elders neglected to form a technical committee to investigate the concerns he posed.
“At the meeting chaired by the former Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho, all stakeholders at the meeting agreed that the party Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah would immediately set up a technical team comprising the technical representatives from the 3 presidential aspirants and the party’s election committee to determine how soon the irregularities with the voters register could be resolved in readiness for the Presidential primaries”.
No show of committee’s report: He also claimed that he was promised of a committee’s report to determine the next path of action when the committee was established.
Executives rushed to organise press conference: Following his meeting with the Council of Elders, the former Bank of Ghana Governor lamented that the party’s hierarchy hurriedly organised a press conference indicating that all materials had been dispatched to the various constituencies without resolving the issues he raised.
“However, despite the assurances given to myself and my team by the Chairman of the Party, the executives of the party, in an act of complete and unacceptable breach of faith, went ahead to convene a press conference announcing that the elections would go ahead tomorrow, without having resolved the concerns surrounding the voters register as decided at the meeting of the Council of Elders”.
Voter registration is marred by irregularities: A disgruntled NDC flagbearer stated that the party’s officials delivered voting papers to constituencies without involving his team.
“Taking part in such will be akin to knowingly taking part in a poisoned calabash,” he said.
Read below a full statement by Dr Kwabena Duffuor
Source: citinewsroom.com
