Dr Kwabena Duffuor, former Finance Minister, has explained his decision to withdraw from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential race, stating that the party was not ready to conduct a free and fair election.
According to him, taking part in such an election would be akin to knowingly drinking from a poisoned calabash.
Duffuor referred to a meeting of stakeholder’s in which all agreed that the Party Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, would set up a technical team, including technical representatives and the party’s election committee, to resolve issues with the voter’s register in readiness for the Presidential primaries.
Duffuor added that the party had demonstrated evidence of being unprepared and unable to conduct a fair election.
The campaign team for Duffuor had previously demanded a postponement of the primaries due to flaws in the register.
At a press conference in Accra on Friday May 12, 2023 just a day to the elections, he said ”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. The technical committee was to subsequently submit a report to parties after this had been determined. As I speak with you, our technical team is currently at the Party headquarters to undertake this activity.
“However, despite the assurances given to myself and my team by the Chairman of the party, the executives of the party, in a 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”
Dr. Duffuor added that “My concerns that the party is not ready to conduct free and fair election is evident for all to see. Taking part in such would be akin to knowingly drinking from a poisoned calabash. After consulting with my support base nationwide, I have been left with no choice but to withdraw from the Presidential election as I cannot contest in an election which is blatantly fraught with irregularities regardless of all my efforts to draw attention to same.”
Dr Duffuor filed an injunction application against the primaries but withdrew it from the court.
“The plaintiff avers that the partial delivery of the Photo Album to his representatives on 4th May 2023 was in itself out of time considering the magnitude of the verification exercise required of them before the internal elections of 13th May 2023,” portions of the application said.
The campaign team of Dr Duffuor earlier demanded postponement of the Saturday May 13 Presidential Primaries over what it describes as a flawed register.