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A deliberate plan by the New Patriotic party, NPP, to incite a section of the public against the Electoral Commission has again been exposed. “What we recommended was the exhibition of the voters register. Not validation. Nowhere in the recommendations did we suggest validation”.

This is a sharp response to what the Danquah Institute particularly and the NPP generally who are issuing threats to the Electoral Commission.

Chairman of the Committee established by the Commission to review presentations on the bloated voters register, Professor Justice VCRAC Crabbe, who responded to the falsehood NPP is peddling was speaking on Talking Point, a flagship current affairs programme on GTV yesterday.

The respected statesman and former Supreme Court Judge, Professor Crabbe’s response is timely and addresses concerns of those who were worried about the building politically motivated tension ahead of the limited registration exercise scheduled to start on April 28, barely two weeks from now.

Prior to the ‘Baamu Yaada’ (a Hausa language which literally means we won’t allow) demonstration held by the NPP at Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, NPP spokespersons issued statements stating categorically that ‘No Validation, No Limited Registration.

Last month, pro NPP pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMCA)  issued a one week ultimatum to the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei on their call for validation of the voters register. In a publication by the Statesman newspaper, owned by Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, a nephew of NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo Addo on March 14, 2016, quoted LMVCA as saying ‘EC’s reckless decisions are setting up the nation for chaos in the November polls”.

A statement signed by Convener of LMVCA was also categorical that the EC panel of experts and even the Supreme Court had made that recommendation.

The group is planning more protests against the EC which it accuses of planning to rig the elections for the ruling party, the NDC. A Senior Political Science Lecturer, Dr Ransford Gyampo and suspended founding member of the NPP, Dr Wereko Brobbey have publicly condemned acts aimed at discrediting the EC. Dr. Gyampo told Accra based 3FM, “The Electoral Commission is an independent body which has every right to do all these things and it seems we are being too paranoid about everything that the EC does.”

Chairman of the People’s National Convention, Bernard Mornah has also criticized the NPP for undermining the role of the Inter Party Advisory Committee, IPAC which is working closely with the EC on preparations towards the polls.

Incensed Bernard Mornah said he will formally lodge a complaint at the next IPAC meeting about NPP’s recent actions.

He told Accra based OKAY FM, “if we want the EC to take the decisions we make at IPAC seriously, we ourselves must also respect the agreement that we make whether those decisions are within what we thought, that is democracy.

He further questioned whether Chairman of Nana Akufo Addo’s campaign team, Peter Mac Manu, Acting General Secretary, John Boadu and MP for Aburi South, O. B. Amoah properly briefed their party about the outcome of the last IPAC meeting.

Deputy Majority Chief Whip and MP for Banda, Ahmed Ibrahim, has also criticized the leadership of the NPP on the desperate move. He bluntly told the party not to pass its failure to deal with internal problems on to the EC and the Ghanaian voter.

He alleged NPP’s representatives at the IPAC meetings lack institutional memory because the NPP keeps changing those who attend. National Chairman, Paul Afoko and General Secretary, Kwabena Agyapong who were regular are currently on suspension and he claims Mathew Opoku Prempeh, MP for Manhyia a new attendee is also now not very active, according to Mr. Ibrahim.

He said this obviously leaves a major communication and administrative gap in the NPP which is neither the EC nor the government’s making.

NPP according to him keeps shifting goal posts knowing very well it has lost the call for the compilation of a new voter’s register and attacks on the EC Chairperson isn’t working. 

Last month, the public was alarmed when news broke that a comprehensive report on the operations of Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) and an assessment of some key staff’s vulnerability for possible compromise was retrieved from three South African mercenaries invited by the NPP to train bodyguards of flagbearer Nana Akufo Addo.

Questions about the motive of the party and how it secured the document have since not been answered. For now, NPP’s hands seem tied as any move intended to disrupt the April 28th limited registration exercise has been exposed.

All well-meaning Ghanaians, Civil Society groups and other key stakeholders need to keep a close eye on NPP activists to ensure Ghana remains peaceful before, during and after the elections.