An illegal scheme by members of the National Democratic Congress in the Akim Swedru Constituency to carry out massive votes transfer from across the country to the area has been uncovered by the New Patriotic Party.
The plan, according to the NPP, is to allow the illegal voters, who would be sent to the few NDC strongholds within the constituency, including the Arabic School at Akim Swedru, Apoli-Ningo, Adinkrom and Adenkyensu, to cast their votes on December 7.
A statement signed by K Asare Danso and William Anim, Akin Swedru constituency secretary and communications officer respectively, revealed that the scheme, which is being spearheaded by the NDC’s parliamentary candidate, Robert Ansah, forms part of the governing party’s plans to rig the December polls.
The statement regretted that that reports made to the Electoral Commission concerning the illegal acts had not received any attention.
“Upon the receipt of these reports, we the leadership of NPP quickly wrote to the District Electoral Officer to furnish us with the list of all voter transfers made before the 2012 election into the constituency to enable us monitor events assiduously. To date the EC has not responded to the request. We therefore have no other option than to put this issue in a public domain,” the statement read.
The statement cautioned people who had allowed themselves to be used to carry out the illegal act to advise themselves since the act goes against the electoral laws of Ghana.
“They should note that such an action constitutes an electoral offence and those caught as a result of these illegal transfers will face the full rigors of the law. We want to state emphatically that our opponents in NDC should not think that we the leadership of NPP are ignorant to everything that happens around us. They should note that the rules governing this voter transfer do not permit that,” the statement admonished.
The statement made reference to CI 94, section 22 (i): “A registered voter who before an election is resident for not less than 12 months in the constituency other than that in which the registered voter is registered, may apply to the returning officer of the constituency where the registered voter is resident for the name to be entered on the transferred voters list of polling station in that constituency. (2) The registered voter shall provide physical proof of the new residence in addition to signing a declaration.”
The NPP also called on the District Electoral Officer to help identify the culprits involved in the illegal mass transfer and bring them to book, maintaining that they are not against the transfer exercise per se, but only want the right thing to be done.
“What we are against is illegal transfers and that we will do everything humanly possible to prevent that. We do not believe in cheating. We believe strongly in fair game. It is our fervent hope that the leadership of NDC will put an immediate stop to these malicious plans in the spirit of true democracy so that we can have free, fair and transparent elections,” the statement affirmed.
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