Former Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has pulled out of the NDC flagbearership race.
Dr. Duffuor was aspiring to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after the party holds its presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for Saturday, May 13.
The former Finance Minister had raised concerns about some discrepancies in the party’s voter register ahead of Saturday’s primaries.
Addressing a press conference Friday evening, Dr Duffuor accused the leadership of the party of breaching the agreement and assurance given to the three presidential aspirants to resolve the issues raised about the register before Saturday’s polls.
“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 Nketia 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 a 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.”
Saturday’s race will now be between former president John Dramani Mahama who is in his native Bole to cast his vote and a former mayor of Kumasi, Kojo Bonsu.
