Story: News Desk

Lawyers for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have urged an Accra High Court to dismiss what they say is a frivolous and incompetent case filed by flag-bearer aspirant, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.

They also described the case as one not grounded in law.

“We submit that the plaintiff’s suit is incompetent and therefore ought to be dismissed in limine. Again, the plaintiff has not been able to demonstrate on the face of his pleadings and affidavit that it is just or convenient for the Honourable Court to grant the injunction that he seeks”.

Dr. Duffuor’s campaign team alleged that  it has not been furnished with an accurate list of persons who are supposed to participate in the May 13 Presidential and Parliamentary polls.

He, therefore, wants the court to put the elections on hold and have the party engage candidates on a road map toward drawing up an accurate list of voters. 

The Electoral Commission (EC) has already indicated it will not be supervising the polls unless the legal issues are resolved.

The NDC however contends that it has so far rectified most of the errors that have been identified by Dr. Duffuor’s team.

“That in reference to the allegations of errors and inaccuracies emanating from the photo albums, I state that such errors have been largely and comprehensively dealt with by the NDC. That for instance, on the plaintiff’s allegations of the number of cases of people having the same Voter I.D card numbers which resulted in people having the same pictures and names on the photo album have been resolved”. Lawyers for the party argue in legal documents.

On claims that the list has been bloated through addition of an exceptional list, the party says this list was generated to tackle alleged errors.

“The lawyers explain that it is a list of those whose names appear as branch executives in one constituency but are found to be from another constituency and those who submitted a wrong Voter I.D number or did not provide their voter I.D card numbers.

“… that the exceptional list provides another and higher level of transparency, particularly when the Voter I.D card would remain the main primary document identification of voters, in that case, anyone who does not produce a legitimate Voter I.D Card would not be permitted to vote”.