GhArticles.com Every News in Detail
Joana Gyan Cudjoe, the parliamentary candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Amenfi Central Constituency, has been disqualified from the upcoming 2024 parliamentary election. The Electoral Commission (EC) informed Cudjoe of her disqualification in a letter dated October 10, 2024, signed by Samuel Tettey, the Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations. The disqualification is based on a pending court case against her.
The allegations stem from accusations that Cudjoe forged her NDC party card and backdated it to meet the four-year requirement stipulated in the party’s election guidelines. The case originated when Gyedu Frimpong, a resident of Amenfi Central, petitioned the EC to reject Cudjoe’s nomination forms due to an injunction from the High Court in Sekondi, which prohibits the acceptance of her nomination.
In the petition, Frimpong argued that accepting Cudjoe’s nomination would be a violation of the court’s order and potentially amount to contempt. He highlighted that, as part of the requirements to qualify for NDC’s national primary elections, Cudjoe was supposed to present a valid national voter identification card. However, the ID she submitted had 11 digits, deviating from the standard 10 digits required by the Public Election Regulations.
Furthermore, the petition indicated discrepancies in the voter ID numbers provided by Cudjoe, which raised suspicions of forgery. According to the petition, Cudjoe’s ID card number and the numbers on her membership ID card were inconsistent, suggesting that she had manipulated her voter ID information to qualify for the parliamentary primaries.
The petition emphasized that forgery of official documents is a criminal offense and called for an investigation and prosecution of Cudjoe for her alleged actions. The EC, adhering to the court order, noted that it was compelled to act in accordance with the law, leading to Cudjoe’s disqualification from the electoral race.
