NPP threatens to sue four EC officials

The New Patriotic Party(NPP) in Dormaa Ahenkro is  dragging  four officials of the Electoral Commission(EC) to court for obstructing and challenging the  party’s agents from  objecting  to over 200 foreign nationals whose names appeared  in the voters register during the last exhibition exercise.

The party claimed that these foreigners whom they objected to were Burkinabes, Malians, Nigerians and Ivorians whose names are in the register with the connivance and assistance of some NDC officials such as the NDC Dormaa Central Parliamentary candidate, Mr John Jack.

The exhibition officers were posted to various polling centres in Kofikumikrom, Atesikrom, Kofibadukrom and Ahogono all in the Dormaa Central Municipality to oversee the voters exhibition exercise, are being alleged by the party to have gone contrary to laid down instructions and demonstrated gross ignorance of electoral laws, which created unwarranted tension and confusion at the exhibition centres.

Addressing a news conference in Dormaa Ahenkro, Mr Seth Asare, the NPP Constituency Organiser,  said the EC officials have argued that the party can only object to the names of the voters on the basis that “we needed to get the persons we were objecting to, to be present at the polling station and be informed that we were objecting to their names on the voters register”.

“How on earth could a person being objected to in the register on the grounds that he/she is not resident in the Electoral Area be brought to a polling station”, he asked.

Referring to Constitutional Instrument (CI) Regulation 23 (2c) Mr Asare said that “any Ghanaian registered voter can object to any person not qualified to vote based on grounds such as below 18 years, not a Ghanaian citizen, not resident/ordinarily resident in the electoral area, impersonation, deceased, not of sound mind, multiple registration and convicted of electoral offence”.

The Constituency Organiser lambasted Mr John Jack, for physically and verbally assaulting the party’s accredited  agents and inciting the public against the NPP.

He accused Mr Adu Jack of hypocrisy and double standards adding “this same John Adu Jack, objected to about 300 names of NDC faithfuls from the NDC register to vote and 17 persons including the Chief of Nsesereso and his queen mother at Nsesereso”.

“If he believes it is a legitimate right for the NDC to object, why then would he be so bitter about the objection exercise the NPP also embarked upon”, he asked.

Mr Asare said the NDC’s claims that over 95 per cent of the people objected to was on religious grounds is baseless, noting the party’s exercise is a patriotic duty to help clean the bloated register.

“It is unfortunate therefore to see the Dormaa Central NDC Parliamentary candidate doing cheap tribal and religious politics with a purely legitimate, lawful and harmless exercise”, he said.

He urged party sympathisers to remain calm in the face of these challenges, and avoid creating tension and panic among the citizenry in the area.

Source: GNA