Going to court will flout party rules - NDC tells disgruntled aspirants

The National Democratic Congress is warning aggrieved aspirants in last Saturday’s primaries to avoid going to court when internal processes have not been exhausted.

Going to court should be a last resort else one would be “flouting the rules of the party”, director of elections with the NDC, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo told Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh.

From Mion in the Northern region to Ada in the Greater Accra region, some defeated parliamentary aspirants are heading to court over what they describe as irregularities in the polls.

While aspirant in the Ada constituency Charles McCarthy who lost to Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah is blaming his defeat on removal of some names on the register, his colleague in the Mion constituency Dr. Mu-Awia Zakaria who lost to Mohammed Abdul-Aziz said the real result was not declared and wants a recount. Similar actions have been taken by the incumbent MP for Afram Plains North Aboagye Didieye who also lost to Betty Krosby Mensah.

Dr. Mu-Awia Zakaria
But Mr. Ofosu Ampofo who is also the First Vice Chairman of the NDC is charging the defeated aspirants to address any “genuine concern” to the party structures for redress.

He insisted that the party never had any intention to use the primaries to punish any contestant.

He said the party is therefore open and willing to address challenges when they are brought to its attention.

For those who have taken their grievances to the media, he advised, addressing concerns in the media is “needless”. “We don’t solve concerns in the media,” he counseled.

There are internal processes that one ought to follow in order to address such concerns, he reiterated. He said the national office has also received comprehensive report of the primaries from all the regions.

Meanwhile, the party has started reaching out to all contestants in last weekend’s primaries.

The party calls it a “healing and reconciliation process” Ofosu Ampofo said as the process begins tomorrow in the Central region.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com| Isaac Essel | [email protected]