�Ghost� Parties Haunt NPP �At IPAC - Mac Manu Laments

Campaign manager of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peter Mac Manu says the efficiency of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) is being seriously damaged in recent times. 

He accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of inviting officials of nonfunctioning political parties to IPAC meetings who do nothing but counter arguments advanced by the NPP.

He said even though there is abundant evidence that many political parties have not complied with the legal requirements of the EC itself to qualify to be recognised as such, the EC continues to invite these parties to IPAC meetings.

Mr. Manu disclosed this on Joy FM's Super Morning Show whilst reacting to the 11-day Limited Voter Registration exercise organized by the EC to give an opportunity to persons who have turned 18 years and above to register to join the national electoral roll.

The exercise which spanned from April 28 - May 08 has generated a lot of heated debate in the country especially with the major political parties, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition NPP being on each others' throat over issues such as the registration of minors.

There was also the allegation of intentional disenfranchisement of University of Ghana students leveled against the Commission by some political party leaders for siting only one registration centre on the campus.

Touching on the issue, Mr. Many expressed his misgivings in the conduct of the EC as far as the exercise was concerned.

"I was on the Legon campus to observe for myself and a lot of the students though writing their exams were in a queue to register", he said adding it was unfortunate the students were not allowed to register.

The university, he noted is the only place in this country where people within the age bracket of between 18 - 24 are congregated," and the EC should have had the foresight to plan well for these schools.

Describing the dissatisfaction of the NPP, Mr. Manu said "My party is very much peeved about the way young men and women were not able to register."

He said it is heartbreaking that Ghana does not have a national identification card after Kufuor-led-NPP administration invested so much effort into setting the National Identification Authority up and helping it with logistics.

He explained seven regions in the country were ready for the card but the NDC has left everything in tatters. The national ID card would have solved the problem of registering voter and eliminate the problem of minors and foreigners getting into the register.