Ghana’s Electoral Commission has denied speculations that some ballots were found at the office of a political party in the country.
According to the EC the report is false and should be disregarded.
“The Commission wishes to call on the general public to completely disregard the false claims by activists of some political parties that these ballots were supposedly intercepted in another political party’s office. These were wicked lies delinerately calculated to cause confusion,” a statement from the EC stated.
Photos of EC branded bags containing ballot papers believed to be for the conduct of the 2016 general elections were being circulated in a section of the media claiming they were intercepted at the office of one of the political parties in the country.
But according to the EC the printed ballots were those for the Upper West Region which had arrived at the Regional Police Headquarters in Wa earlier on Saturday.
It said the package was printed and transported under the watch of the representatives of the various political parties.
It noted that the photos that accompanied the ‘ludicrous claims’ in the media were taken by some of the representatives of the political parties at the Regional police headquarters.
The notice therefore called on all the political parties to desist from “this irresponsible behavior” which it deems a calculated attempt to cause public disaffection towards the Commission.
Below is the full statment from the EC:
PUBLIC NOTICE:
The Commission wishes to call on the general public to completely disregard the false claims by activists of some political parties that these ballots were supposedly intercepted in another political party’s office. These were wicked lies deliberately calculated to cause confusion.
Below is the truth:
1. The printed ballots for the Upper West Region arrived at the Regional Police Headquarters in Wa this morning. The representatives of the political parties in the region were invited to witness the delivery process and confirm their seals on the bag. Some of these political party representatives took these pictures at the Wa Regional Police HQ. We are surprised to note that these same political party representatives are circulating these pictures with such ludicrous claims. This is totally irresponsible and unacceptable.
2. For the records, the printing process of the ballot was closely monitored by representatives of the political parties on a 24-hour shift basis.
3. There was also a 24-hour police protection of the ballot printing process.
4. Record was taken of every single ballot printed and at the end of the day, the printing house was closed in the presence of all political party representatives.
5. Every morning, the printing house was not opened unless the representatives of the political parties were present and printing did not start until all the representatives of the political parties were present.
6. After the ballot printing process has been completed, the ballot papers were packaged and labelled per constituency as below, and the political parties placed their uniquely numbered seals on the bags as below.
7. Even the movement of the ballots was closely monitored by the police and the political parties are duly notified.
8. On election day, the ballot paper is only valid if it bears the Commission’s unique stamps.
9. We would like to state categorically that it is totally untrue for anybody to claim that the ballots below were intercepted in another political party’s office.
10. The Commission would like to call on all political parties to stop this irresponsible behaviour deliberately calculated to cause public disaffection towards the EC.
Thank you.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana