Kweku Baako on why NDC’s participation in EC’s pilot voter registration is plausible but…
The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, has described as tenable, the decision by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to take part in the pilot voter registration exercise.
To him, whilst not wanting to be appearing to be doing a devil’s advocate on behalf of the NDC and the subsequent explanation as to why they participated in the exercise, he thinks their participation was good.
The Volta Regional Vice Chairman of the NDC, Mr George Loh, who is a former Member of Parliament for North Dayi, on Tuesday participated in the exercise with the explanation that he did so to be sure of how the exercise would be conducted.
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He said he “wanted to be sure” that the EC would or would not do what they claimed they will do.
He said there was no need to mix the issues because the NDC has not said anywhere that it was abandoning voting in Election 2020 and that the party has said that "at best the EC's option should be a limited registration and not a compilation of a new voters register.
"If it is time for limited registration, the EC will use the system, won't they? And so if they are piloting what they say are new machines don't we [NDC]deserve to know what kind of things they are doing and if there are any hanky-panky games we prepare ourselves? So clearly, this thing is funny and all those doing mischief with it should better stop because the card that is being showcased is a dummy card, I cannot use it in any election," Mr Loh said.
Related story: NDC's George Loh on why he participated in EC's pilot voter registration
Consistency
Speaking on Accra based Peace FM’s radio morning programme Kookrokoo on Wednesday, Mr Baako said the NDC’s argument that they are committed to a limited registration which may involve about one million people, and that the EC would be the one to implement the limited registration exercise and so if the EC was engaging in a pilot exercise, they ought to be part sounds reasonable.
“They [NDC] can argue that way and it might sound plausible, good solid sustainable reasoning, pragmatism, some strategic thinking,” he said.
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Adding, Mr Baako said his initial “reaction was to ridicule it” and “question their [NDC] integrity” when he first heard about the move on Tuesday.
“But upon sober reflection and as a political animal and a long standing political activist, I said look, they may have a case and perhaps we may have to grant them that,” he noted and added that it was good that they [NDC] went to “test the efficacy of the [EC’s] machines.”
‘Optical challenge’
On the contrary, Mr Baako argued that “there was an optical challenge” with the NDC’s move "because the people out there, their supporters have been made to conceive a rejectionist manner relative to the new register."
Therefore if people see them [NDC leaders] out there, going to register in the pilot exercise, “they see an inconsistency, its apparent, I don’t think it is deep-rooted but it can affect your support base.”
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He said despite the noise they have been making about the new register, “if the Supreme Court rules in favour of the EC, and the EC proceeds, there is a possibility that some of their support base… [who] have been convinced that this new register is a machine for rigging [would be affected] to the extent that, it would affect their readiness to go to the registration centres to register.”
This, he said, places a time limit for the “NDC to be able to let all their people to be convinced that the rigging agenda implanted in them is no longer really sustainable.”
“I’m saying that these are problems and perhaps consistency is very important,” he said on the Peace FM radio programme which was monitored by Graphic Online.
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Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh