The flag bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has been given much more time to sort out issues with his nomination forms than the five minutes’ audience he requested following his disqualification, the Electoral Commission (EC) has disclosed.
Dr Nduom was on Monday October 10 disqualified with 12 others by the EC from contesting in the 2016 elections for anomalies in the nomination forms he filed with the commission.
EC boss Charlotte Osei, announcing the decision, told journalists: “The Commission is unable to accept Dr Nduom’s nomination because the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. The details are as follows:
“1. One subscriber Richard Aseda (‘Asida’ on the Voters’ Register), with Voter ID no 7812003957) endorsed the forms in two different districts (pages 21 and 39).
“The subscriber was found to be on the Voter’s Register in one district thereby disqualifying his second subscription and reducing the total number of subscribers to below the minimum required by the Law.
“The same subscriber (Richard Aseda (‘Asida’) endorsed the form with different signatures in both portions of the nomination form. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of one or both signatures.”
The PPP flag bearer later requested he be given just five minutes with the EC Chair to iron out “administrative” and “clerical” errors over which his nomination was rejected.
“With all due respect, we believe that the issue here is not a fraudulent behaviour on anybody’s part but an administrative or clerical matter that can be rectified quiet simply based on the evidence that I have with me. A five-minute discussion with Mrs Charlotte Osei, the returning officer will result in me being cleared to contest this December 7, 2016 election as a presidential candidate. That is all that it will take and I am confident that once I’m on the ballot, I will become the next president of the republic of Ghana,” Dr Nduom told journalists in Accra.
“This is not my first time contesting,” he said at a press conference. “I know the processes we go through and how we deal with matters that arise. … I’m not here to impugn anybody’s integrity.”
In a reaction to the businessman-cum-politician’s request, the EC, on the ‘Ask The EC’ programme aired on GTV on Wednesday October 12, said the PPP founder and leader met the commission after his request.
“We’ve given him more than five minutes. So he’s had his audience and had it in abundance of the time he requested for,” Rebecca Kabuki Adjafo, a commissioner said of Dr Nduom.
She said though she was not part of the PPP flag bearer’s meeting with the EC, she was well aware that it “ran over five minutes”.
Asked if Dr Nduom’s concern had been resolved, Mrs Adjafo said: “Oh No, I won’t say it’s resolved.”
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