The General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia says he’s convinced the main motive for the NPP’s call on the Electoral Commission to undertake a validation exercise, is to rig the elections.
According to NDC’s Chief Scribe, the posture of the main opposition party on the current voters register is a clear indication that it sees defeat staring at them hence the diabolical agenda to discredit the Electoral Commission (EC).
Speaking to Accra FM morning show, Ghana Yensom Wednesday morning, Mr Asiedu Nketia described the position of the NPP as strange.
He said there’s no such thing like validation as far as the recommendation by the VCRAC Crabbe committee report is concerned. The General Secretary was commenting on the recent Baamu Yaada demonstration in Kumasi and the ‘No Validation, No Limited Registration” position adopted by the NPP.
Last month, a pro NPP pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) issued a one week ultimatum to the EC Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, to heed to heed to their call.
In a publication by the pro-NPP Statesman newspaper, on March 14, 2016, quoted LMVCA as saying ‘EC’s Reckless Decisions Are Setting Up The Nation For Chaos In The November Polls”.
The group’s Convener David Asante 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.
The twist of events and the building tension has compelled concerned Ghanaians like Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Ransford Gyampo and suspended founding member of the NPP, Dr. Wereko Brobbey to publicly condemn the acts.
Mr. Asiedu Nketsia however maintains the NPP and its surrogates are only raising a red herring.
“who doesn’t know the NPP and the way they operate, they create their own thing and make a lot of noise about it using their surrogates and media allies, that has always been their modus operandi, don’t mind them, they are making all this noise to distract our attention so they get the opportunity to steal the elections but we are watching them and we can assure them that it won’t happen, we are keeping an eye on them”…he said.
“We all agree that the register is not perfect. But it is credible. The truth of the matter is that you cannot have a perfect register, never. No country can have a register it can call ‘perfect’. The reason is that every register will contain the names of dead people; whatever you do, the names of deceased persons will be included..Those who are dead, even if their names remain in the register, what makes the register credible is that in this country, because of the system in place, no one can vote in the name of the dead.”
“So, there’s nothing like a perfect voter’s register, but there’s a credible voter’s register, hence I believe our 2014 register is credible. Whatever names will be added to it will also be credible...So, those asking us to go compile a new register to remove the names of the dead, they are wasting everybody’s time. Because of the biometric verification requirement, anybody who dies goes with his fingerprint," he told Chief Jerry Forson on the programme.
Meanwhile the Chairman of the Committee established by the Commission to review presentations on the bloated voters register, Professor Justice VCRAC Crabbe has dismissed claims that they recommended a validation exercise.
His claim has been corroborated by Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante who was a member of the five member panel in a separate interview on a radio station.
Other political parties aside the NDC have equally spoken about the issue.
Chairman of the People’s National Convention, Bernard Mornah criticized the NPP for undermining the role of the Inter Party Advisory Committee, IPAC which as he put it, is working closely with the EC on preparations towards the polls. Mr Mornah’s beef with the NPP is that, its leadership acts contrary to what is agreed at the IPAC meetings.
An incensed Bernard Mornah told Okay FM on Monday he will formally lodge a complaint at the next IPAC meeting about NPP’s recent actions.
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