The General Secretary for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia says the electoral commission (EC) have since the day it mentioned the idea of re-doing a new register have been acting insincere with its claims.
According the NDC scribe, it was surprising that the EC claims the Biometric Verification System it used in the recent District Level Elections which recorded almost flawless results had suddenly become faulty.
Addressing a cross section of the media in the Kumasi Metropolis Friday afternoon at the party’s 7th Moment of Truth press conferences, the first outside Accra, General Mosquito as the NDC man is referred politically wondered what degree of fault could occasion a total change of a system that has worked perfectly since 2008.
Mr Nketia said even before the matter was extensively discussed and a closure brought to same the EC has started procurement processes to undertake a completely new registration exercise.
“My brothers and Sisters let it be known that no creation of the constitution is superior to the mandate or will of the people and this means the EC cannot ascribe or arrogate to itself powers that would allow them to act arbitrarily or dictate to the populace what it singularly want despite resistance from the people of Ghana”, Mr Nketia posited.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY:
The NDC chief scribe noted that the EC had hidden from the political parties the actual amount they needed to carry out a replacement of the voter roll.
The political parties, he indicated got to know details of the proposal and budget needed to carry out a new registration exercise when the amount of 830 million was approved by the Parliament of Ghana.
Mr Nketia asked what prevented the EC from carrying the political parties along when the idea of a new register came to mind.
He noted if all the processes had been deliberated on well at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC)sittings consensus could have been long reached on whether the country needed a new register or not.
“We in the NDC and other allied political parties are against the entire compilation of a new Biometric Voter register since the old has proven to be credible and its equipment too has been flawless in operation with the just ended difficult District Level Elections (DLE) proving to be a good case of the use of the BVR and BVS systems”, Mr Nketia stressed passionately.
DEMONSTRATIONS:
Speaking to the Ghanaian Observer newspaper later at the presser, Sammy Gyamfi, Director of Communications for the NDC indicated the preparedness of his outfit to carry out its advertised demonstration against the idea of the compilation of a new voter register.
He noted that the NDC would be joined by its partners code named the Alliance of Resistance Against A New Voter Register in the public demonstration this Tuesday in Kumasi.
Mr Gyamfi wondered why the EC is so bent on carrying out a new registration process when about 46 Civil society organisations and about 13 political parties were against the idea.
He noted that for now the arguments of the EC has been senseless and unconvincing, adding the NDC and its affiliates will resist the idea with all the force they could muster.
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