Former presidential aspirant of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Kwabena Duffuor says the decision of the party to proceed with its presidential and parliamentary primaries without addressing concerns of irregularities with the voters register is a clear indication that the party is not ready to conduct credible elections.
According to the former Finance Minister, he relentlessly tried to get leadership of the party to rectify anomalies he and his team detected in the register in order to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
But the party’s executives, after agreeing at a meeting to set up a committee to address the irregularities, proceeded with the processes without, first, resolving the error-ridden document as agreed.
Describing this as a complete breach of faith and unacceptable, Dr. Duffuor said he cannot partake in an election which is blatantly fraught with irregularities hence, his decision to pull out of the race.
“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 will go ahead tomorrow without having resolved the concerns surrounding the voter register as decided at the meeting with the Council of Elders.
As at this time, the party has begun distributing the ballot papers to the various regions and constituencies without our involvement. My concern that the party is not ready to conduct free and fair elections is evident for all of us to see,” he told the press in Accra.
He added, “After consulting with my support base nationwide, I have been left with no choice but withdraw from the presidential elections as I cannot contest in an election which is blatantly fraught with irregularities regardless of all my efforts to draw the attention of leadership to same”.
Dr. Duffuor, before announcing his decision to withdraw from the contest, discontinued a case he filed at an Accra High Court, seeking to stop the party from holding its presidential and parliamentary primaries on May 13, 2023.
This was after the party held talks with him, during which, he said, an agreement was reached for it to look into the concerns he raised.
But leadership of the party, Dr. Duffuor claimed, breached the agreement, leaving him with no choice but to withdraw as he cannot be guaranteed of fair and credible elections.
