5 reasons why Duffuor withdrew from NDC presidential race

A flagbearer aspirant of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Dr. Kwabena Duffuor withdrew from the race last night.

Dr. Duffuor on Tuesday, May 9, filed an interlocutory injunction to restrain the party from holding the primaries today Saturday, May 13, with reasons that the party’s voter register was characterized by some discrepancies.

He later withdrew the suit after some discussions with the Council of Elders to pave way for the primaries with assurances that his grievances will be looked into.

Addressing journalists in Accra on Thursday evening, he enumerated a few reasons why he pulled out of the race after months of vigorous campaigns across the various constituencies of the party.

Unacceptable breach of faith by Council of Elders/Party: The flagbearer aspirant said the party and the Council of Elders acted in bad faith after promising to work on the irregularities he raised prior to the primaries.

Failure by the party to set up a technical committee: Dr. Duffuor explained that the Council of Elders failed to set up a technical committee to look into the issues he raised.

“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 mentioned that he was also assured of a committee’s report to determine the next line of action after the committee was set up.

Executives rushed to organise press conference: The former Bank of the Bank of Ghana lamented that after his meeting with the Council of Elders, the hierarchy of the party hurriedly organised a press conference indicating that all materials have 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’s register characterised with irregularities: A disappointed flagbearer of NDC noted that the executives of the party distributed the ballot papers to the constituencies without the involvement of his team.

“Taking part in such will be akin to knowingly taking part in a poisoned calabash,” he said.