The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) wants the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to rethink its concerns about the need or otherwise of the new voter’s register ahead of the 2020 general elections.
NPP says the time has come for the opposition party to join forces to assist with how the Electoral Commission (EC) will be able to carry out the compilation exercise amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
Communications Director of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa on Eyewitness News who reiterated the party’s disinterest in scheming with the EC to rig the elections as alleged, urged the NDC to consider the abnormal times brought on by the pandemic and put an end to its stale new voter register brouhaha.
“The NDC is a political party that goes back and forth when it suits it. We have been calling for a new register since 2012 and we have stuck by our position. It is not for us to determine what the EC does but the important thing is that things have changed. So many things have changed. Pre-COVID-19 was a debate within COVID-19- that is an entirely new debate. It is not the old debate.”
He continued by saying that: “Now the debate is about how the EC is able to proceed and protect Ghanaians from COVID-19. I think that is where we must focus. It is not about a new or an old register or the mechanics of it. The traditional means of running a register where we expect queues are all up in the air. So let us focus on the positives and the futuristic situations on what we can do now for us to get a credible register in time for the 2020 register”.
Yaw Buaben Asamoa further stressed that going forward, commentary on the subject matter must be well thought through to shape the electoral processes leading to the polls in December.
“So it is not about a new or old register, both are man-hours indentured. It is a process that involves limited registration of a minimum of a million people. It’s a process that involves exhibitions that may involve eight to 10 million people if they are all willing to come and look at their names. These processes within the context of COVID-19 are difficult to understand. So how can it be done? So what the EC is capable of doing in this era is what all the political parties must agree to. So it is not a debate of an old or new register.”
Voter register allegations
The NDC has said that a lot of Ghanaians will not have the chance to register for their voter’s ID if the EC decides to proceed with its new register.
National Chairman of the party, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has pointed out that out of the over 17 million individuals who had registered for the Ghana card, only some 6 million had received their cards, a situation he claimed could disenfranchise many Ghanaians.
According to the NDC, the NPP is conniving with the EC and the National Identification Authority(NIA) to rig the 2020 elections. But the NPP has rejected the allegations.
Both the EC and the NIA have also distanced themselves from the accusations.