Member of Parliament for Tamale North Constituency Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini has claimed that there is a conspiracy to rig this year’s elections in favour of the governing party.
His claim comes on the heels of the alleged deletion of names of voters on the newly-compiled electoral register.
The former broadcaster explained on the New Day programme with host Johnnie Hughes on TV3 Friday September 25 that if the missing names had happened in a few areas of the country, then the Electoral Commission (EC) could have been pardoned but not when the situation is widespread.
The EC has extended the number of days for the voter exhibition exercise by two more days. The exercise, which began on Friday, September 18, was scheduled to end on Friday, September 25.
“As part of efforts to serve the interest of its stakeholders and promote greater participation and inclusion, the Electoral Commission has extended the Voters Exhibition Exercise from Friday 25th September to Sunday 27th September, 2020,” the EC said in a statement issued on Thursday, September 24.
The elections management body also announced a short code to assist electorate check whether or not their names have been duly captured on the roll.
But Alhassan Suhuyini said: “Do not rely on that short code because I know people who have checked with the short code and got feedback that their names were on the register but when they went to the polling station their names were not on the register.
“They got feedback using the short code that confirmed that they were on the register but they got to the polling stations itself and their names were not on the register. So let nobody rely on those short codes. Please make the time even if you do not have it to go and check to be sure that your name is on the register.”
He added “All of these feed into the wieldy held perception that there is a grand scheme to rig the elections . On is major be an accident, two is a coincidence but you cannot tell me that three is not deliberate . When you begin to have so many reflags that are not dismissible , you cant easily dismiss them you don’t just continue to describe them as red flags .
“If you have a pattern of unexplainable happening especially around an election it will be fair for you to assume and conclude that there must be a deliberate attempt to either frustrate , to suppress of to rig.”
He further indicated that the widespread of this incident in the country defeats the claim by the Electoral Commission (EC) that this register was going to be an improvement on the previous one.
“They told us that this was going to be a better register than we have had before. What is it today? Is this better than what we had before?
“When these happen once you call it accident, when it happens the second time you call it coincidence but when it happens the third time that is a plot.
“What is the use of extending the days when my name is not on the register? In my constituency alone, so far we have compiled over 400 names that have not appeared on the register so even if you extend it for five days what will the 400 people do?
“In some polling stations you have five or six names, in some places you have as much as.”
Meanwhile, Mr George Ayisi, the Director of Communications at the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) has dismissed rigging allegation.
He said the EC is doing its work and has assured that the bottlenecks will be dealt with.
He further stated that the compilation of the new register was necessary in protecting Ghana’s democracy.
He said the old register had several defects that could have threaten Ghana’s democracy.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana