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Clear the air quickly over alleged
bloated voter registry in Ashanti region, EC told
Accra, March 11, Ghanadot/GNA - The ruling New Patriotic
Party (NPP) on Tuesday expressed concern about the sluggish
administrative procedure adopted by the Electoral Commission
(EC) to investigate the alleged bloated voters' register in
the Ashanti Region.
"We do not object to the EC carrying out its own
investigation. However, ...without any open and transparent
approach toward getting to the bottom of the matter, the
suspicions and mistrust brewing over the register can only
get worse," Nana Ohene Ntow, NPP General Secretary, stated.
Nana Ohene Ntow was speaking at a press conference organised
by the NPP to highlight the party's position on the
purported bloated voters' register.
The NPP said it believed the EC could have acted more
expeditiously on the allegation than it had done so far, and
rejected EC's three-member in-house investigation team.
"The (three-member) investigation team is in contravention
of a consensus agreement reached at the last Inter-Party
Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, which suggested an
investigation team comprising political party
representatives, EC officials and Information Technology
(IT) experts.
"We do respect the competence of the Commission in the
mandate given it by the Constitution and other legal
instruments of State. However, we believe that a
broad-based, open and transparent stakeholder investigation
would help to clear all doubt possibly created by the
allegation."
Nana Ohene Ntow also appealed to the EC to be a credible
referee during the registration; voting; counting and
declaration stages of the electoral process.
The NPP General Secretary stressed that should the party
have any cause to question the EC's operations, "we will
pursue it in the spirit and letter of the National
Constitution and Electoral Laws for the attainment of
national stability and peace devoid of any incendiary
political motives".
Nana Ohene Ntow noted: "For the NPP any issue that has to do
with the credibility and integrity of any aspect of the
electoral process is of crucial importance. Whether it has
to do with the pre-voting, voting or post-voting ... any
doubts and inadequacies could have devastating consequences
for national stability and peace."
The NDC has alleged that a voters' register it obtained from
the EC contained a bloated list in 13 constituencies in the
Ashanti Region.
However, the EC has denied it and distributed an authentic
list for the Ashanti Region to the political parties.
GNA
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