A General Secretary aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kojo Adu Asare, has cried foul after the slot in which his name should have appeared on the ballot papers at the party’s Delegates Congress was taken by a different name.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, Kojo Adu Asare described the apparent error which saw the name Justice Yeboah printed beside his picture, as “irresponsible.”
He also expressed concerns about the photo on the ballot, stating that although it resembled a picture he had submitted to the party during the application process, it had still been tampered with.
“I wasn’t part of the elections that were held. My name was not among the list of contestants. There was a certain image that looked like a picture that I sent as part of a package for my application – it was a far cry from what I presented,…and a name that is completely alien to me. So clearly, I wasn’t in the contest, somebody else probably was. Every single ballot [had the error].”
He said that he informed the party of the error when it was noticed, but his complaints were ignored, adding that the Electoral Commission (EC) had already dissociated itself from “such an irresponsible anomaly.”
“I noticed it within the first hour of polls and of course, I went through the rightful procedures to get it normalised but nobody paid heed. I complained verbally and in writing to the party, both are on record.”
Peter Otukonor, and lawyer, Barbara Serwaa Asamoah, were elected as the NDC’s National Deputy General Secretaries at the party’s 9th National Delegates’ Congress over the weekend.
Barbara Asamoah polled 3, 041 votes while Otukonor had 1, 816 votes.
Adu Asare insisted that while he did not have anything against the two persons who were eventually elected and that their “competence is not in doubt”, he believes that the “process of entering that office has been desecrated”
“It has marred the beauty of the elections. For those who were elected, they know their office is not legitimate because somebody had to be fixed for them to get that position and for me, that is not fair to them.”
Some media reports had suggested that Mr. Adu Asare intended to head to court to get his concerns addressed, a claim he rubbished.
He stated that he has confidence in the current leadership of the party and would exhaust the party’s mechanisms.
“To the best of my knowledge, I’ve not granted any interview anywhere to suggest that I am going to court. I don’t know who is creating that impression. What I’ve said is that I have options but I haven’t even considered any of them yet because it is early days.”
When asked whether he wanted the party’s leadership to stage new elections for the Deputy General Secretary elections, he said “it depends on what they say. I called for it at the elections grounds but they didn’t see the need for it at the time. I don’t know what the new group will say about it. It’s not about me, the credibility of the elections is what is of paramount interest to me.”
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citinewsroom.com
