President Akufo-Addo says he has no intention of manipulating the 2020 general election ahead of the commencement of the voter registration exercise on Tuesday.
After months of being accused of plotting to alter the 2020 polls, mostly by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), President Akufo-Addo said: “the idea of being a President, who emerges from a rigged election, is abhorrent to every fibre of my being.”
“I have no interest in disenfranchising any eligible Ghanaian from registering in tomorrow’s exercise, nor am I interested in any improper machinations to win any election,” he assured during a national address on Monday evening.
“I have spent my life fighting for free, democratic institutions in our country, and I will continue in that fight for the rest of my life,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo said he wished to preside over people “who have given me their free consent, with the blessing of the Almighty.”
The source of the most recent manipulation claims has come because of the deployment of soldiers to border towns, mostly in NDC strongholds.
The President insisted that the soldiers “are not in any way intended to intimidate or prevent eligible Ghanaians from registering to vote in December.”
“They are there for their express purpose, which is to guard our borders. That is the limit of their remit, and they will not be permitted to stray beyond that remit.”
Other rigging claims
Before the military deployment issue, the NDC had said the President’s decision to ease the restrictions on gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic “is mainly intended to pave way for the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission (EC) to carry out its rigging agenda through the needless and wasteful new voter registration agenda.”
After the Supreme Court upheld the EC’s decision to exclude the existing voter ID from the required documents for registering to vote, the NDC Flagbearer, John Mahama, accused the government of scheming to rig the 2020 elections by manipulating the electoral process.
He said there was an attempt to “systemically disenfranchise eligible citizens of this country.”
