Johnson Asiedu Nketia – General Secretary of NDC
THE
NATIONAL Democratic Congress (NDC) has vowed to organize a series of
demonstrations against the Electoral Commission (EC) this year, a political
exercise the grouping has sought the involvement of other parties.
The National Organizer of the NDC,
Joshua Akamba, who made the disclosure, accused the EC of being biased in
favour of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
According to him, everything pointed
to the fact that the EC, especially its chairperson, Jean Mensa, was clearly in
favour of the NPP to retain political power through any means.
Joshua Akamba, who sounded very
furious, stated that plans by the EC to change the voters’ register, especially
during an election year, showed that the EC had a diabolical agenda.
According to him, the current voters’
register was credible, as it was used to elect President Akufo-Addo. Again, he
said it had been used for other previous elections in the country and,
therefore, any attempts to change the electoral roll would be rejected.
“The EC has plans to rig the
elections in favour of the NPP to make it possible for President Akufo-Addo,
who has failed to deliver in political office, to win the elections and
continue to mismanage the country. Starting from Saturday, January 11, 2020,
the NDC will organize a big demonstration in the Northern Regional capital of
Tamale and we shall later on organize a similar one in Kumasi at a later date.
“This year, the NDC, having
realized that the EC is not fair and indeed has plans to favour the NPP to win
the polls, has planned to organize a series of demonstrations to expose the
EC,” he said on Kumasi-based Nhyira FM.
Backing his earlier claim that the
existing electoral roll was credible, Joshua Akamba said, “This was the same
register that was used for the district assembly elections and the creation of
six regions in the country last year.”
According to him, the EC cannot
prove that the existing electoral roll is not credible, warning that “the NDC
will resist the EC’s attempt to change the voters’ register with all our might
through a series of demonstrations.”
ChaLog Takes EC To Court
In a related development, the Chamber for Local
Governance (ChaLoG) has announced that it will take legal action against the EC
over the latter’s decision to compile a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020
general elections.
According to the chamber, it has taken the
necessary steps to sue the EC at the Supreme Court to make it either annul the
2019 District Level Elections or place an injunction on the EC not to go ahead
with its decision.
In a statement issued yesterday, ChaLoG
expressed shock at the EC’s comment after the December 17, 2019 District Level
Elections which justified its demand for GH¢444 million to replace obsolete
BVDs.
“Against this background, therefore, the EC
needs to urgently prepare to appear before the apex court to answer the
following questions to clear the confusion in the minds of the tax payers whose
sweat and toil it is seeking to profligately spend to procure new IT software
and compile a New Biometric Voters Register.
“ChaLoG intends to invoke the original
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to annul the district level elections or put
an injunction on the EC to stop compiling a new biometric voters’ register,” it
stated.
“ChaLoG is completely at a loss why the EC will
make such a call exactly two weeks after the successful conduct of the 17th
December, 2019 District Level Elections,” it added.
However, the EC has come out to state that it
will proceed with the compilation of a new register.
This is because the current register has
challenges and has been in existence over the past eight years, which paves the
way for it to be reviewed for a more fair and transparent exercise.
About GH¢400 million has been endorsed by
Parliament for the exercise which will also entail the procurement of electoral materials and
recruitment of election officials for all polling stations across the country.
The
NDC has already expressed divergent views on the subject and maintained that the EC should use the old register for this year’s general
elections.
The EC has explained that a new Biometric Voter
Device (BVDs) and Biometric Voters Register Kits (BVRs) would be robust and user-friendly than to
upgrade old and obsolete ones.
Press Conference
At an NDC-organized press conference at the
Press Centre in Accra on Monday the parties, in a joint statement, vowed to
resist a new voters’ register.
Dubbed ‘the Y3NPINI DECLARATION’,
the Inter-Party Resistance against the New Voter Register, as the NDC organized
grouping is called, will embark on a series of countrywide demonstrations.
Tamale
Chapter
“On Saturday, 11th January, 2020, we shall be
in Tamale for a mega Tikusayi Korinfohili demonstration. The converging point
will be the Tamale Jubilee Park at 6 am.
We shall follow this up with the Y3npini Demonstration in Kumasi on Tuesday,
21st January, 2020, and climax it with the Wokp3n33 Demonstration in Accra on
Tuesday, 28th January, 2020,” the opposition parties stated.
According to them, the
justification for a new voters’ register is unacceptable.
Earlier at a press conference in
Accra, Deputy Chairperson of the Commission in charge of Operations, Samuel
Tettey, said an amount of GH¢400 million would be expended mainly on procuring
electoral materials, as well as recruitment of election officials for all
polling stations across the country.
But in a press statement, the
opposition parties stated that they would do whatever within their power to
resist the new voters’ register.
“Wherever you are, whatever you do, you can’t miss this opportunity to be part of history,” the organizers said during the press conference.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr. And Vincent Kubi
