General News of Wednesday, 10 May 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

We are not mad people to chase him for discussions - Amaliba on Duffour's injunction

Director of Legal Affairs of the NDC, Abraham Amaliba Director of Legal Affairs of the NDC, Abraham Amaliba

Director of Legal Affairs of the NDC, Abraham Amaliba has said that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has resorted to using legal processes to address an injunction placed on the primaries which was scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2023 because of the posturing of flagbearer contender, Dr. Kwabena Duffour.

Just four days before the NDC primaries, Dr. Kwabena Duffour has filed an interlocutory injunction against the party's upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries.

According to Mr. Amaliba, Dr. Duffour's stance to absent himself from a meeting he had been invited to for discussions on some concerns he raised is suggestive that he was more comfortable going to the court.

Chasing him for further discussions he says will be likened to acting like mentally unstable persons.

"If people are not ready to sit with the persons to resolve the matter and are running to court, you cannot also carry documents and be chasing them.
"We are not mad, are we?" he asked in an interview on Joynews' The Pulse.

"Somebody has been invited to a table, he is not coming and you say we should take the photo album and be chasing them from house to house? The person is comfortable in court and so has gone to court. The party has instructed its lawyers to deal with the matter in court and so we are dealing with the matter," he further said.

Mr. Amaliba also said that issues raised by Dr. Duffour's camp including issues about a bloated voters register were borne out of ignorance which would have been addressed if he had met with the leaders at the headquarters as scheduled.

"The issues they raised were being solvable and were being solved at the party headquarters when they run to court. Some of the issues they raised were out of ignorance and if they were at the party headquarters, they would have been educated.

Background:

Dr. Duffour's lawsuit specifically named the General Secretary of the NDC, the Director of the Elections Directorate, along with fellow flagbearer hopefuls John Dramani Mahama and another contender, Kojo Bonsu as respondents.

According to the writ, the defendants have been commanded to enter their appearance within eight days of being served with the legal documents.

Following this, the Electoral Commission has pulled out of the elections, citing the injunction currently before the court.

The commission says the decision is to avoid being in contempt of the court.