NDC Elections Director Rejects Aspirant Steven Donkor's PIN Tampering Claim

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Director of Elections and IT, Mahdi Gibril, has rejected a claim by National General Secretary hopeful Steven Donkor that the PIN he needed to file his nomination forms was altered without his knowledge.

Mr Donkor's allegation implies that the party's Elections Committee is deliberately trying to block his candidacy so that the current General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, can run unopposed.

Speaking in an interview, as first reported by Citi News, Mr Gibril called the claim unfortunate and said the Elections Committee had no reason to interfere with any aspirant's PIN.

"It's unfortunate that Steven Donkor is going to town with misinformation. He's the only person who can explain why he's going to town with this misinformation," he said.

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According to Mr Gibril, the online nomination platform was built so that each aspirant alone controls their account and receives a direct notification whenever a change is made.

"When the PIN was changed, it indicated and gave a new PIN on his phone, meaning he could proceed with the process. But he chose not to do that," he said.

The elections director added that Mr Donkor had gone to the party's office in person, where members of the Elections Committee helped him through the online filing process.

"This is the person who came to the party office here. Even though it's done online, it is the team here who helped him to file and pick this nomination," he said.

Mr Gibril argued that officials would not have offered such help if the party wanted to stop Mr Donkor from contesting.

He also raised questions about the timing of the complaint. He claimed that Mr Donkor had stayed away from the party office for roughly two weeks before coming back on November 7 to report that his PIN had been changed.

Mr Gibril further alleged that the aspirant was intentionally giving the impression that the party was standing in the way of him completing or validating his nomination.

He stressed, however, that the PIN and identification details given to each aspirant are personal, and that the system lets every candidate check updates on their own account directly.

The dispute has prompted concerns about how transparent the nomination process is as the NDC gets ready for its national executive elections.