General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of a deliberate attempt to cause confusion with its ongoing limited registration exercise.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on the ongoing exercise, Mr. Asiedu Nketiah said the EC has refused to pay heed to concerns raised by the NDC about some hitches with the registration exercise in order to satisfy the interest of some political powers.
“Our observation of the registration exercise so far seem to point to a calculated and well-rehearsed orchestration designed by the Electoral Commission to intentionally create a state of confusion that will allow capable, privileged and well position political players to exploit in pursuit of their parochial partisan interest rather than the national interest of securing a credible register which is a prerequisite for free and fair elections.” he said.
Mr. Asiedu Nketiah alleged that some NPP vigilante groups were operating under the guise of being National Security operatives in an attempt to disenfranchise voters within NDC strongholds.
“At Akweley, a suburb of Kasoa, NPP thugs unleash an unprovoked violence on Mr. Freeman Adjah Tetteh, the registration officer for turning down an order by the MCE to have special numbers issued to people who were in the queue after close of the day’s registration,” Mr. Asiedu alleged.
He said although the EC’s attention has been drawn to some of these occurrences, there is no effort on the Commission’s part to address them.
The NDC General Secretary further raised concerns over some illegalities, which he said has resulted in the registration of unqualified persons.
He also said the EC was not able to give a specific target for the registration exercise, and that lack of specificity could result in under or over procurement of registration materials in certain areas.
“When the NDC requested for a definite target for the registration exercise, the EC first mentioned that about 300,000 qualified voters will be registered .they later adjusted it to 500,000 and subsequently announced 700,000 at a press conference 2 days after the registration started.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing limited registration exercise which is to make room for new voters to register will end on Friday, July 5, 2019.
By Jennifer Ahiamadzie| 3news.com|Ghana