The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be perpetuating illegality should it form its own election monitoring group.
The NDC announced that to effectively monitor the December polls it has set up a Citizens’ Arrest Taskforce.
The Director of Elections of the NDC, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has said the task force which will be deployed across the 275 constituencies of Ghana, will collaborate with state security agencies to prevent election-related violence.
But speaking to Citi News on the development, Campaign Manager of the NPP, Peter Mac-Manu admonished the NDC to allow state security agencies to execute their mandate.
“This is what I call the Kejetia tactics, where the thief will shout at another person as the thief. This is what they have intended to do to commit thievery in the course of the election because they have signed to commit to peace. That is why they called on the Electoral Commission to tag security forces with their names and numbers. So what kind of people are they going to bring? And does the law allow for that kind of action in this country? The vigilante law bans that.”
“So for me, they are going to put themselves in trouble against the law. I will advise them to put a stop to that and allow the election to go on in a peaceful and civil manner and allow the election security task force formed under the leadership of the IGP to do their election security work”, he added.
NDC’s point
Already, the flagbearer of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama previously stressed that his party will do everything to ensure that the country has a free and fair election on December 7.
He has said, despite assurances by the Electoral Commission to ensure a free, fair and credible election, the party will also remain vigilant until the electoral process is over and the results are declared.
The Director of Elections of the NDC, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, maintains that the deployment of the taskforce is because of the NDC’s priority to ensure peace on Election Day.
“The proper police are there to help. They want the right thing. They want peace. All we want is that on 7th and 8th December we are still in Ghana with peace. That is all we want.”
“Anybody who comes there and attempts to snatch a ballot box or attempts to cause confusion, that person is a thief. That person is a threat to our democracy and must be dealt with accordingly,” Mr. Ankrah stressed.