The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is alleging that the disqualification of its parliamentary candidate, Joana Gyan Cudjoe, is part of a calculated agenda to suppress opposition candidates and gift key parliamentary seats to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
According to the General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, the EC’s actions in Amenfi Central are “deliberate, premeditated, and unlawful” and amount to an attempt to deliver a parliamentary majority to the NPP through manipulation.
The party argued that the disqualification of Madam Gyan Cudjoe is not an isolated case but part of a broader pattern, comparing the situation to the controversy surrounding the Hohoe constituency in 2020, where NPP candidate Peter Amewu won amid disputes over the exclusion of voters from Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL).
“The disqualification of Joana Gyan is an attempt to gift the Amenfi Central seat to the NPP on a silver platter, just as they did in Hohoe with Peter Amewu. This is not mere incompetence. This is deliberate, premeditated, and unlawful conduct,” he said.
He added “It is becoming increasingly clear that the Electoral Commission is no longer a neutral arbiter in our democratic process. Rather, it has become a tool in the hands of the ruling NPP, working to suppress opposition candidates and skew the playing field in their favour.”
According to him, Jean Mensa and her cronies are operating with impunity because they believe that they are untouchable.
“They believe that the NPP’s foothold in the EC grants them the license to abuse their power without consequence. But we are here to tell them that they are wrong.”
Already, the NDC and its parliamentary nominee for Amenfi Central have sued the Electoral Commission over the disqualification. The plaintiffs have also filed a motion on notice for an order of interlocutory injunction pursuant to Order 25 Rule 1 of C.I. 47.
That means they want the Electoral Commission to be injuncted from going ahead to print the Notice of Poll for the Amenfi Central Parliamentary Election, and also going ahead to print the ballot papers for the same election until the substantive matter has been dealt with.
The motion was filed on Thursday, October 17, 2024, a day after it emerged that the EC in a letter dated October 10, 2024 had informed Joana Gyan Cudjoe that she has been disqualified from the Parliamentary race.
Source: myjoyonline.com
