Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia (right), NDC General Secretary, addressing the press conference. Sitting by him is Mr Ken Dzirasah, a leading member of the party.

Invite Bawumia for questioning over ‘bloated’ voters register : NDC

Doreen Andoh Politics Jan - 06 - 2016 , 23:10

The National Democratic Congress has called on the national security agencies to immediately invite Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the running mate to the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), for questioning over a case of falsification.

The NDC accused Dr Bawumia of engaging in the falsification and fabrication of public document to deceive public officials.

The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, noted that the NDC was particularly interested in the NPP’s fabrication of the Togolese register in an attempt to deliberately deceive members of the public.

He was addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday in reaction to a statement issued by the Electoral Commission rejecting the NPP's calls for the compilation of a new voters register.

Mr Asiedu Nketia, recalling the 2012 election petition, accused the NPP of again fabricating, distorting public records, tendering in falsified evidence and engaging in wilful deception to force the NPP’s parochial will on the citizenry.

NPP’s reaction
However, the NPP has described the call by the NDC for the arrest of Dr Bawumia for falsification of facts as a big joke.

Reacting to the press conference of NDC in Accra yesterday, the acting General Secretary of NPP, Mr John Boadu, said left to the NDC alone Ghanaians would have been voting with opaque ballot boxes and not transparent ones as was the case now.

He said left to the NDC, only people in the urban areas would have had their pictures on the voters cards and people in the rural areas left out.

Mr Boadu said similarly, there would not have been biometric registration and verification in the country during elections if NDC were to have their own way.

The acting General Secretary, therefore, stated that if there should be any arrest at all then the first person to be arrested should be President John Dramani Mahama who said Ghanaians should vote for him to end the energy challenges by 2013 which he failed to do.

Mr Boadu said the other persons to be arrested included Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the businessman who promised to refund GH¢51 million wrongly paid to him, and the management of rlg Group of Companies.

NDC welcomes EC’s decision
According to Mr Asiedu Nketia, the NDC, therefore, welcomes the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision not to compile a new voters register for the 2016 election.

He said the NDC had noted that based on the EC’s response to the NPP, all the grounds on which the NPP stood to make the demand were false.

That, he said, vindicated the position of the NDC in the discussions that ensued over the need and call for a new voters register to ensure an authentic 2016 election results.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said as the NDC previously indicated that the demand for a new voters register was premised on falsehood and an inordinate desire to disenfranchise large sections of the electorate to the NPP’s advantage.

He said it was and remained the NDC’s contention that despite the boastful claims by the NPP that they possessed evidence of an over-bloated register brimming with names of foreigners, no such evidence was in their possession.

“What they presented was a fraudulent manipulation of the content of the Ghanaian voters register given to all political parties in the run-up to the 2012 elections. Clearly there were tribal undertones in the approach adopted by the NPP,” he said.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said the evidence the NPP claimed to possess concerning the existence of foreigners from all neighbouring countries on the local register had been concocted to impugn the integrity of the people of the Volta Region.

That, he said, was aimed at creating the impression that the people from the Volta Region were foreigners who shored up the votes of the NDC in local elections.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said despite the promise by the NPP to make available in a matter of a week evidence from the neighbouring countries to support their claim, they had failed to do so several months after the deadline.

“We recall that the NPP claimed to have presented only 10 per cent of evidence from Togolese Register. As it stands now, it is quite clear that the so-called 10 per cent evidence is itself a fabrication calculated to deceive Ghanaians,” he said.

Mr Asiedu Nketia, in his statement, said the NDC’s position on the other claims by the NPP focusing on under-age voters, the use of the National Health Insurance Scheme cards for voter registration and scanned pictures on the voters register, had been vindicated by the outcome of the eminent panel of enquiry.

“In view of the EC’s response, the NDC is not surprised that the eminent panel tasked to look into the matter found no tenable basis upon which to recommend the compilation of a new voters register,” he added.

He said the NDC wished to reiterate the position that sufficient avenues already existed to improve the register to make it even more robust in order to guarantee credible, free and transparent elections.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said in that regard, the NDC was prepared to contribute its quota towards ensuring greater integrity in the electoral processes.

Writer’s email: Doreen.andoh@graphic.com.gh