NDP threatens more court

By Maxwell Ofori [email protected] The National Democratic Party (NDP) has threatened it will return to court if the Electoral Commission (EC) does not stop its oppressive tactics with immediate effect. The NDP described as ‘oppressive and illegal’, moves by the Electoral Commission surrounding the filing of nomination forms of its (NDP) presidential candidate, Nana Konadu […]

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By Maxwell Ofori
[email protected]
The National Democratic Party (NDP) has threatened it will return to court if the Electoral Commission (EC) does not stop its oppressive tactics with immediate effect.
The NDP described as ‘oppressive and illegal’, moves by the Electoral Commission surrounding the filing of nomination forms of its (NDP) presidential candidate, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.
The NDP said in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Mohammed Frimpong, that the problem with the party’s nomination form, as the EC stated, was that a subscriber had done double subscription, thus the disqualification, but to their surprise, the EC told them (NDP) on Monday in a letter, having waited for about five hours at the commission’s office, that it had identified 33 new errors on the forms after the SC had ordered it to give the eaffected parties the chance for any amendments.
“This is not right. This cannot be legal. This is a clear violation of our human rights,” the statement said, adding, “We reject this trick of the EC. We reject this clear attempt at victimisation by the EC.”
According to the NDP, “the EC has shown its hand, that it is actuated and driven, not by a desire to deliver a world class election in Ghana, but simply to hand the presidency to a selected candidate.”
The party, however, called on the EC to immediately “desist [from] its oppressive tactics, and, with immediate effect, reverse this illegal demand of use, else we (NDP) would have no option but to return to court,” it warned.
Meanwhile, the NDP, which was disqualified in an attempt to contest the presidency in 2012, claims the EC, in a letter issued to it Monday, introduced 33 new “concerns and discrepancies,” which have been labelled as “irregularities”.
But the party, in a statement, described the new ‘discovery’ by the EC as absurd, and an agenda to disqualify the party’s nominee from contesting in the December 7 elections.
This alleged new discovery has been made without forensic proof – that those signatures could not have been signed by the same people. “We are sickened by this turn of events. On the 10th October 2016, the EC claimed that our nomination paper was rejected for one reason, and one reason alone. It was, therefore, on that basis that we challenged the disqualification in court. After fighting the matter in court for all this while, the EC has suddenly and unexpectedly shifted the goal posts, in a manner that shows that all the EC wants to do is to disqualify us (NDP) participating in the coming presidential election, by any means possible.
“We dare the EC to show to Ghanaians that the ‘jack-in-the-box issues it is raising suddenly, and belatedly, about our nominations, do not exist in the nominations of the parties/candidates that it claims to have passed to stand for the elections. The EC has not been fair to and candid with us. Its (EC) actions have been arbitrary, capricious and biased, based on resentment, prejudice and personal dislike. Definitely, its acts are not in accordance with the due process of law.”

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