Murtala Mohammed, General Secretary of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) has said the EC can’t suppress votes in favor of or against any political party.
According to him, claims by some opposition parties including the NDC are purely speculative, describing the claims as ‘mental concoction”.
This was contained in a statement issued and signed by Murtala Mohammed, General Secretary of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) to set the record straight on what he described as lies from the Opposition NDC.
Below is his ten points:
1. Voter Suppression
On December 19, 2019, the NDC held a press conference and alleged that Electoral Commission of Ghana “portends a devious plan to set the stage to suppress voter numbers in the strongholds of the NDC and to bloat voter numbers in the strongholds of the NPP” hence the reason for the new voter’s register. This assertion at worse is a speculation in the realms of absurdity. The process of voter registration in Ghana has always been transparently undertaken in the full glare of the public. It’s strictly monitored by all stakeholders, i.e. political parties, media, CSOs, and Observers. So the EC can’t suppress votes in favor or against any political party. This claim is purely speculative or mental concoction.
2. Plans to Rig 2020 Election
How can a mere change of voters register be a conduit for rigging elections in Ghana? It’s only an unserious political party or a party running to lose an election will arrive at such obnoxious conclusion that a mere change of a voters register could result in a collision of a sort that will give the ruling party an undue advantage in the upcoming election. What a joke!? Go say that to the marines! Our election is manual and the whole process is religiously policed. If the rigging election in Ghana is that simple how come the NDC lost in 2016 when they had all the state machinery at their disposal? Not even the President’s wife can rig an election for her husband if she accidentally happens to be the EC. The NDC must stop the wicked lies and concentrate on convincing Ghanaians with a clear message.
3. 2016 Election Not Gazetted
Parliamentary records of December 17, 2019, show clearly how the Minority Leader sorts to create the impression that the electoral commission of Ghana has not gazetted the 2016 election. Although this misnomer was corrected by the Majority leader, the propaganda elements of the NDC run with it in the media circles and as their Chairman said: “drag the EC to the cleaners” and in the process accused the electoral commission of dereliction of duty and focusing on the peripheral issue as the ‘new’ voter register. This assertion is a ridiculous lie against the fact that the 2016 election was gazetted by Mrs. Charlotte Osei as far back as December 12, 2016.
4. Not Enough Consultation
The NDC said in a press conference and via their communicators that the EC has not done enough consultation to undertake the new voter’s register. I find this intriguingly preposterous. The major stakeholders in this election are the political parties and we were informed as far back march 27, 2019.
The fact that you don’t agree with the EC doesn’t mean you were not consulted. Indeed the EC consulted all stakeholders before arriving at compiling a new voter’s register. The NDC is bent on simply causing disaffection to the EC and its commissioners. Otherwise, all the political parties were consulted at every step of the way. We also disagree with the EC at some point but we are not in a banana republic to take the law into our own hands like the NDC is doing.
5. Compilation of Voters Register in an Election Year
The NDC, through their minions, are all over media platforms peddling falsehood. They claim the EC is late with the compilation of the register because we are in an election year. Apart from 1995, all the new voter registers (ie 2004 and 2012) were compiled in an election year; followed up by successful elections. I seriously don’t believe the NDC is genuinely against the voter’s register. I think the objective of this rabble-rousing is to create tension and fears for them to dictate and control the pace of the election.
6. 10 Years Myth Analogy
The NDC is creating the impression that by some convention, the EC compiles new voters register after every 10 years; another deliberate hogwash of a lie. There has never been a time in Ghana’s 4th republican history where the interval between two compilations of new voters register was 10 years.
Find below simple fact for your perusal:
1988 -1995 (7YRS)
1995 -2004 (9YRS)
2004 -2012 (8YRS)
2012 – 2020 (8YRS)
7. Procurement Breaches
The NDC and their henchmen at some point accused the Electoral Commission of procurement breaches. This allegation is evil, to say the least. If there were indeed procurement breaches, why will any serious party not head to the court to seek redress? How can propaganda in the media circus resolve procurement breaches? I see nothing but an attempt to justify losing the 2020 election in advance. I suggest you stop the lies and prepare your docket to challenge the results in court after the election.
8. Nov 7 Allegation
After the meeting with the Eminent Advisory Committee on January 30, 2020, on the new voters register impasse, the Chairman and the General Secretary of the NDC came out of the meeting spreading lies about the fact that the EC has scheduled November 7 as the date to complete the compilation of the new Register. This piece of lies went viral as the media carried it wide across the nation. Unfortunately, that information was another falsity of gargantuan proportion. The November 7 date was the date set by the EC to submit the compiled register to the various districts.
Yet the NDC went into the market with this piece of lies and sold it to the masses causing disaffection for the EC.
9. Review of 2016 Election
The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Asiedu Nketia is going around spreading lies that the 2016 election was not reviewed. That assertion is not accurate. There was a review of the 2016 elections organized by Mrs. Charlotte Osei at the Electoral Commission premises and the NDC was represented by Kofi Adams. Indeed it was my good self (as PPP representative at that meeting) who raised qualms with the EC for organizing just a day’s workshop to review the 2016 elections. At the time of this review, Mr. Asiedu Nketia saw nothing wrong with the program. Why is General Mosquito lying about this?
10. Government Dole out PPE’s To EC
The most recent lie by the NDC against the EC was by the so-called ‘competent’ Minority Leader of Parliament, Haruna Idrissu. With all his competence and the research team available to him, the minority leader goofed badly in his recent presser on the EC by alleging the government of Ghana had supplied personal protective equipment (PPE) to the EC. This information turned out to be incompetently manufactured by the Minority Leader. The EC’s press statement should suffice. I needn’t add a word.
However, let me add this. For the Honorable member to accuse the EC of incompetence but failed to verify his information makes his claim of incompetency quite rich indeed.
The current electoral commission of Ghana was able to organize a successful referendum and the district Assembly elections without a hitch.
How can you describe such an entity as inefficient and incompetent? In fact, for the honorable minority leader to accuse the electoral commission of lacking integrity when the Honorable man in question was a recipient of the honorary award, “Order of Volta; double salary category”, is quite telling.
The current crop of NDC leadership cannot be trusted. They are hell-bent on causing chaos and destabilizing the democracy of this country.
Articles 43, 44, 45, and 46 stipulate the function of the electoral commission in unambiguous terms. Any action or inaction perpetrated by any individual or group amounts to subversion of the constitution. The police service and the security forces of this country must be alert and proactive to avert possible mayhem.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
