Joana Gyan Cudjoe, the embattled NDC aspirant in the Amenfi Central constituency is in good standing in the party, Deputy General Secretary, Mustapha Foyo Gbande, has indicated.
He says the woman’s candidature and membership are not in contention at the moment, defending the party’s decision to annul the May 2023 election that elected her as parliamentary candidate.
He says the NDC adopted the rules and regulations guiding its parliamentary elections, including the election in Amenfi Central.
Gbande explains it is therefore right for the party to annul the results of the earlier election which is now being contested in court.
Some members of the NDC in the constituency took the election to court saying Madam Cudjoe who won the poll did not qualify to contest because she forged some documents to contest.
But according to Gbande, all the structures within the party were deployed and none found the woman to be unfit by virtue of her membership. He, therefore, holds that rerunning the election does not mean the party has gone ahead of the court.
“The previous held elections had gone through the party’s election regulations 2024 for parliamentary election. In that regulation was an Appeals Committee and a Special Committee that will adjudicate on constituencies where the parliamentary aspirant initially belonged to one constituency and transferring their vote to another constituency,” he told Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight Thursday, September 06, 2024.
He continued that “all of these structures have qualified Joana Gyan Cudjoe as a member in good standing of the NDC. No court of competent jurisdiction has adjudged Joana Gyan Cudjoe as a person who is not a member in good standing in the NDC so as it stands, there is no finding at any level against her candidature or her membership with the NDC.”
He disclosed that the woman’s candidature is “not part of the contention that we have because there is no judgement, no conclusion, no finding against her to have forged her documents or membership. There is none.”
His comments follow the annulment of the Amenfi Central parliamentary primary that was conducted on May 13, 2023.
The party in a statement signed and issued by its General Secretary, Franklin Fifi Kwetey Thursday, September 05, 2024, noted that the election was being challenged at the Sekondi High Court.
“In the reliefs (c), (d) and (e) of the Plaintiffs’ action, they seek from the court, the annulment of the parliamentary primary election result and an order for rerun of the election,” the statement issued by Fifi Kwetey contained.
He said the decision was arrived by the Functional Executive Committee of the party at its meeting on Tuesday, September 03, 2024 where they decided to annul the results for a re-run.
“Accordingly, the Parliamentary primaries conducted on the 13th May 2023 in Amenfi Central have been annulled forthwith. The party has decided to open fresh nominations for the conduct of the primaries in Amenfi Central Constituency,” he stated.
Nominations will be opened on Friday, September 6, 2024, and will be filed on Saturday, September 7, 2024. Vetting and appeal will also take place on Saturday and the election will be held on Sunday, September 8, 2024.
