C/R NDC executives bare teeth at electoral fraud

Cape Coast, Jan. 6, GNA- Mr. Peter Light-Koomson, Central Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Friday stated that the party's executives in the region have resolved never to allow themselves to be defeated through the indulgence of electoral malpractices.

He said all measures would be put in place to ensure that the party re-captured the 17 seats it used to control in the region, and there was no way that electoral fraud could deny the party the victory it would work hard for.

Mr Light-Koomson stated this at an end-of-year press soiree organized by the party for journalists in the region, at Cape Coast.

He said they were going to be extra vigilant, in 2008, especially at the polling stations in the University of Cape Coast (UCC), which he alleged were used in the last general elections to indulge in serious electoral malpractices.

According to him, a new NDC, under alert and united executives had emerged to lead the party to victory in the 2008 general elections, stressing that, 93we are not going to allow electoral fraud to continue in the region".

Mr Samuel Valis Akyianu, Regional Chairman of the party, for his part appealed to the media to do well and publish only the truth about all parties and should not have a hidden agenda to destroy any particular party.

According to him, the people in the region would not allow themselves to be swayed again from giving their mandate to a party, which cares for their concerns and vote for a party that could not help solve their problems.

He congratulated Professor Evans Atta-Mills on his re-election to lead the party and all the other contestants in the race for the flagbearership for the maturity exhibited before, during and after the congress.

Mr Kofi Adams, regional youth organizer of the party, for his part said this is a year of action for the NDC and they have so far set the pace through the recently held successful national congress for a flagbearer.

According to him, the soiree was organized, among other reasons, to get pressmen and women around to appeal to them to be fair to all parties and also assist the NDC in the dissemination of its agenda of social democracy and other issues, in their reportage. Mr Kojo Allotey-Jacobs, the regional propaganda secretary, reiterated that the media has become a powerful organ in politics today and anybody or group desirous of making a headway in the political struggle must not antagonize it.

He however, appealed to the media in the region to always consult the NDC secretariat to ascertain the truth or otherwise of issues which were controversial before going to press.

Mr. Allotey-Jacobs said the people in the region have now seen the light and were witnesses to the failures of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and would therefore return to their roots by voting the NDC to power in 2008.

Mr Elvis Christian Amosah, chairman of the Cape Coast constituency of the party stated that the executives have also resolved to ensure that all eligible voters in the region voted only once and that voting in all polling stations would end at 1700 hours in the 2008 general elections.

He said the party would check and no longer tolerate a situation where voting continued up to 2200 hours at polling stations at the UCC as was the case in the 2004 general elections. 07 Jan. 2007