NDC Brands EC's Disqualification Of Joana Gyan Cudjoe As Malicious and Deceitful

The National Democratic Congress has attacked the move by the Electoral Commission to disqualify Joana Gyan Cudjoe, its parliamentary candidate for Amenfi Central. The NDC's Head of Legal Affairs, Edudzie Tamekloe, said the EC acted in a manner that was described as "mischievous and disingenuous" considering the events surrounding the disqualification.

Tamekloe explained to Bernard Avle on Citi FM's Breakfast Show that he was shocked that the EC would hang on an interlocutory injunction from a Sekondi High Court. He said for an institution such as the EC to be a party to the suit and to have been in the case from the beginning, based on which an interlocutory injunction has been given, showed the full knowledge of the case against them. The NDC insists there are questions the EC needs to answer for its knowledge of the case yet going ahead to disqualify Joana Gyan Cudjoe.

The injunction had been granted following Joana's victory in the party's primary on 12 May but was never enforced after the election was annulled and re-run under the supervision of the EC, making their sudden reference to it bemusing for the NDC. "For Samuel Tettey to refer to the injunction in the disqualification is completely disingenuous," said Tamekloe.

The NDC further accused the EC of bias, stating that the Commission was deliberately taking sides in this matter. A letter signed by Deputy Chairman Samuel Tettey disqualifying Joana stated the binding nature of the court order which has neither been stayed nor vacated.

He concluded by accusing the EC of acting outside its mandate, saying it "cannot act like an octopus" in its effort to disqualify a candidate whose election it had overseen. The NDC has made it clear that it will appeal the decision of the EC.