The leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has commenced consultations with the Party elders to find solution to the court injunction filed against its presidential and parliamentary primaries by one of the aspirants, Dr Kwabena Duffuor. Dr Duffuor, on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, filed an interlocutory injunction against the Party’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2023, barring the Party and the Electoral Commission from holding the elections pending the production of a complete photo album register. The suit followed an earlier concern raised about the credibility of the Voters Register to be used for the elections by the campaign team of the former Finance Minister. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, in Accra, on Wednesday, Mr Mustapha Gbandi, a Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, said as a law-abiding political party, it would comply with the orders and processes of the court. However, he said, to ensure quick resolution of the impasse, the leadership had commenced consultations with the elders of the Party to find a way forward. ‘This is an internal contest so, we believe that whatever the grievances, some solutions can always be proffered. And so, we are currently in consultations with elders of the Party to see how to get the issues resolved and then we can move on,’ he said. Mr Gbandi indicated that, already, about 80 per cent of data required by aspirants for the elections had been given to all of them, adding that, the Party was in the process of furnishing them with the remaining 20 per cent. He, however, noted that, per the election regulations, aspirants were only entitled to delegates list, which the Party had made available to them and not photo albums. ‘They took delivery of these documents one and a half months ago; they have never come up with any challenges expect the photo album which is a complementary exercise to further strengthen the system. And so, even if for some reason we will not be able to carry out the photo album, the delegates list has been discharged in accordance with law and process,’ he added. He said the Party ‘will still go ahead and deliver to them the full complement of the photo albums but mind you that, the photo album is not a document stated in the election regulation.’ The Deputy General Secretary implored aspirants to continue with their campaign activities, while urging members of the Party, particularly delegates to remain calm as leadership continued to work to resolve the matter. ‘We must remain calm. Campaigns must continue, we must finish hard but, we must remain active within the principles of the Party, within a defined boundaries of individual actions and all of that. ‘So, we must take into consideration that in everything the Party is paramount and the interest of the Party supersedes any other interests,’ Mr Gbandi urged.
Source: Ghana News Agency