EC oppressive tool against Ghana’s democracy - NDP

The National Democratic Party (NDP) has described the Electoral Commission (EC) as an oppressive tool deliberately working against Ghana’s  democracy. 

“We should not allow any person to do what the EC is doing, with the potential to derail the current and future democratic processes during elections,” the NDP stated.

In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong, the NDP said it was surprised that in addition to the sole reason for the disqualification of its presidential aspirant, the EC had now discovered 33 new concerns and discrepancies on the aspirant’s nomination forms.

That, according to the party, came to its notice after the EC had made officers of the party to wait for almost five hours unattended to while the EC met with its lawyers behind closed doors.

Forensic proof

It stated that the alleged new discoveries labelled as “irregularities” had been made without any forensic proof that the signatures concerned could not have been signed by the same people.

It said NDP officers  challenged “the absurdity but the EC insisted that NDP produces the 33 signatories at the EC headquarters in Accra to verify their signatures before the EC”.

“The EC is threatening to disqualify us on this new and never before mentioned ground”,  it noted.

Disqualification

The statement explained that the EC had initially disqualified the party’s presidential aspirant on one ground, on which basis the party challenged the disqualification at the law courts. 

It, therefore, expressed surprised that the EC had suddenly and unexpectedly shifted the goal post in a manner that showed that all the EC wanted was to disqualify the flag bearer of the party from participating in the December 7 presidential election by any means possible.

Human rights

 “It is surely unfair when alleged wrongs are sneaked upon the party so late in the day in the EC’s attempt to stultify the ruling of the Supreme Court and make mockery of it and the good people of Ghana.

“We reject this new trick of the EC. We reject their attempt at victimisation by the EC,” it declared.

According to the statement, the EC had showed that it was actuated and driven not by a desire to deliver “world-class’’ elections in Ghana but simply to hand the Presidency to a selected candidate.

‘Jack-in-the-box’ 

It challenged the EC to demonstrate to Ghanaians that none of the “Jack-in-the-box’’ issues it was raising suddenly and belatedly about the NDP’s presidential aspirant’s nomination papers did not exist in the nomination papers of the candidates  whom it claimed had passed to contest the presidential election.

The NDP claimed that the EC had not been fair to and candid with the party and described the EC’s actions as arbitrary, capricious and bias based on resentment, prejudice and personal dislike.

It said definitely the EC’s acts were not in accordance with due process of law  and called on the commission to immediately desist from its oppressive tactics and reverse, with immediate effect, the illegal demands.

Return to court

The statement threatened that the party would return to court if the EC did not accept its presidential aspirant’s nomination papers.