NPP Creating Hatred For EC-NDC Aspirant

A Member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a contesting candidate for the Deputy National Organizer position, Mahdi Jibrill has lambasted the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) over what he calls the party�s incessant attacks on the Electoral Commission (EC) as a deliberate attempt to create hatred for the EC. Mr. Mahdi said the NPP as a party is doing a great disservice to Ghanaians by accusing the EC of deleting some names from the voters� register in three regions-Eastern, Ashanti and Western at the just ended voters exhibition exercise, held nationwide. In an interview with the DAILY HERITAGE, the aspirant said the continuous accusation from the party is painting a gloomy picture in the minds of Ghanaians that the EC is not credible, �but it was the same commission they are discounting that conducted their national elections to elect their presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo.� The NDC bigwig challenged the NPP to provide evidence against the EC because the commission does not just delete names, but follows some laid down principles. He said, before the EC engages in deleting of a name from the register, they have to receive a formal application or report which is subject to a committee review to check the merit of the report where a notice is pasted at that particular registration centre to allow other people to object to it before it is finally deleted. He described the accusation that the EC gave the NDC the training manual ahead of time as �bogus and unfounded� because the manual the party used was the same manual used for the 2012 election which was given to all the parties, �except NPP does not keep records.� �They are just trying to create hatred for the electoral commission before Ghanaians to discredit their activities ahead of 2016 so if anything happens then they will remind Ghanaians,� he stated. Mr Jibrill who is popularly known in the party�s circles as the �Pink Sheet Man� added that every serious political party should be aware that two months after opening of voter registration, there would be voter exhibition exercise which requires the party�s attention. The NDC man revealed that the EC has not given the political parties the voter exhibition register �so how come the NPP had access to it, I challenge them to prove it to the whole country. �I don�t understand the beef of NPP because as we speak there are two registers, the 2012 one and the 2014 provisional one so which of the registers are they talking about,� he quipped. Mr. Mr Jibrill is counting on his years of experience in the party during elections to seal some loopholes in the party�s organizational structure to the extent that the national executives can access the data base of active members if he is voted into power.