The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has stated that the seeming silence by the party over the calls for a new voters’ register does not affirm their support for proponents of that call.
Addressing some party loyalists in the Eastern Region, Asiedu Nketia explained that leaders of the party are rather interested in complying with procedures outlined by the Electoral Commission in finding a solution to the concerns raised.
[contextly_sidebar id=”vQXVWRaOAA5AfoAD4UaeDSiMQL4Rz9eQ”]“We are not silent because we do not have anything to say. What we are assured of is that, we are going to be exonerated for the empty barrel makes the most noise. In fact, we are least perturbed by the concerns being raised by the NPP and Let My Vote count,” he said.
“We know that all parties will lay before the EC their arguments after which the way forward would be chartered. We respect democracy and that we do not want to comment to prejudice the outcome of the proposed IPAC meeting over this issue,” Asiedu Nketia added.
The New Patriotic party has questioned the credibility of the current voters’ register describing it as bloated and lacks credibility to be used in the 2016 general elections.
The Electoral Commission subsequently called for proposals from the various political parties. Meanwhile the Chairperson of the Commission, Charlotte Osei, has revealed that it has engaged the services of an international IT company to investigate the allegations of a bloated register.
The chief scribe of the NDC who says he is confident the party’s position would be exonerated, further urged the opposition NPP to avoid the media debates and rather make a well evidence-based presentation to the EC for the concerns to be addressed.
“We expect them to be bold and defend their assertions that there are about 76,000 Togolese nationals registered in Ghana’s electoral roll. They (NPP) should also convince us that their copies of the voter’s register contain names of foreigners. They should be able to also convince us that the register contains 2 million more names than the country’s voter population. We implore them to avoid discussions of their issues in the media”.
Pro-opposition group, Let My Vote Count Alliance, has also supported the calls by the NPP. It has met with former presidents J.J. Rawlings and J.A. Kufuor over the issue with both leaders supporting calls for a credible electoral register for the next elections.
The General Secretary believes the comments would be much appreciated if both sides are duly engaged to present their respective arguments.
“The five key issues raised are baseless, so for those engaging them, I will rather say they should listen to both sides before coming out with their concerns,” he stated.
Meanwhile Communications Minister, Edward Omane Boamah, has described the country’s 2012 voters’ register as ‘the best the country had ever had since it allowed for voters to be properly screened before being permitted to vote.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citifmonline.com/Ghana