Duffuor’s concerns were legitimate but unnecessary – Musah Dankwah

Executive Director and Head of Polling at Global Info Analytics, Dr. Musah Dankwah has shared his perspective on the concerns raised by Dr. Kwabena Duffuor during the just-ended National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential and parliamentary primaries.

Dr. Duffuor raised several concerns including the compilation of the NDC delegate photo album used during the voter registration process. However, Dr. Dankwah acknowledged that Duffuor’s concerns were legitimate but believed they were not necessary as hey party proved.

Musah Dankwah stated, “I think Duffuor’s concerns were legitimate, but I think while they were focusing on the photo album, the NDC (National Democratic Congress) was also emphasising that the voters' registration was the most important thing to have. The registration itself was okay, but only the album had some issues.”

He further explained that the NDC voters' registration served as the foundation for the NDC’s ground campaign and interactions with delegates. “If there were any discrepancies or falsifications, they would have raised concerns at an earlier stage. Moreover, the voter register was not solely compiled for the presidential primaries; it was also used for local constituency, regional, and national elections,” he added.

The Ghanaian pollster also believed that there was no intention to manipulate the presidential election through the voter registration process. He suggested that any potential irregularities may have originated at the local level and then escalated to the presidential level.

Nevertheless, he believed that the issue could have been addressed by implementing measures such as disallowing individuals with disputed names to vote, which would have affected everyone equally.

“For me, I thought they could have dealt with that issue and worst case scenario they could say that anybody whose name is in dispute will not be allowed to vote and that would affect everybody on the same level because you can’t pinpoint that this person would vote for Mr. A or B and that would have been the way forward for Duffuor,” he said.

While acknowledging the legitimacy of the concerns raised by Mr. Duffuor with subsequently led to his withdrawal, Dr. Musah Dankwah implied that the focus should have been on rectifying any issues at the local level and implementing fair solutions, rather than assuming a deliberate manipulation at the presidential level.

The NDC has however chosen the country’s former president, John Dramani Mahama, as its flagbearer for the 2024 general election. Mahama beat competition from Kojo Bonsu with an overwhelming win of 98.9 per cent as against 1.1 per cent from the former Kumasi Mayor.