The National Democratic Party (NDP), has threatened to expose the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, following the party’s disqualification from the upcoming presidential election.
The party’s flagbearer, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, wife of former President Rawlings, was disqualified by the Electoral Commission for failing to meet some requirements of the electoral laws ahead of the December polls.
She was disqualified together with twelve (12) other presidential aspirants.
In explaining the NDP’s disqualification, the EC explained that, “The Commission is unable to accept Mrs. Rawlings’ nomination because the number of subscribers to her forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94. One subscriber on page 89 of her nomination forms is not a validly registered voter, and illegally registered twice and so is on the Exclusion list of multiple voters. Details are Salifu Abdulai District: Nanumba South, Voter ID no: 6617004814 (28.3.2012), Voter ID no: 2126900022 (04.8.2014).”
But according to the Deputy Communications Director of the NDP, Ernest Owusu Bempah, the disqualification of the party’s flagbearer is a deliberate attempt by the EC to ensure the NDP does to contest in the elections.
“This is a deliberate attempt by Charlotte Osei and the EC to disqualify us… they should clap for themselves for tarnishing the image of our multiparty democracy in the country, and deliberately running into the pockets of the government of the day and trying to please their pay masters,” Mr Bempah told Richard Sky on Eyewitness News.
Owusu Bempah challenged the Electoral Commission’s reasons for his party’s disqualification stating that, the EC must provide additional information on the basis for their disqualification.
“You can’t just come and disqualify somebody because you have stated reasons.
This is totally unacceptable and as a party we are going to take a strong decision on this particular one and we are going to go out there and make sure that if we can fight this to the highest level; we will do that to make sure we will never allow this one to pass.
It is totally unacceptable, we know as far as we are concerned as a party that, we filled the document and we provided all the information that they [EC] needed, he said.
“If she [Charlotte Osei] wants to go that tangent, we will strip her naked in this country for everybody to know.. we are all ready to play that game. She should come out and tell us who she really is,” he concluded.
This is the second time Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has been disqualified from the presidential race.
In 2012, she was disqualified by the Electoral Commission from contesting in the presidential elections over her inability to appropriately fill her nomination forms.
The party subsequently threatened a court action against the EC; but failed in its attempt to secure an injunction against that election. In the view of the NDP, they were disqualified largely because of machinations from the incumbent NDC.
