Compiling new voters register biggest mistake by Akufo-Addo gov’t - Muntaka

Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka has described the compilation of a new voters register by Electoral Commission as the biggest mistake made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

In an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, the minority member disclosed that the NPP led-government and the Electoral Commission could have been proactive in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic if they had saved monies meant for the voter registration to cater for the lives of citizens.

He added that the EC's exercise showed government's negligence in managing the finances of the country.

“The sad thing about coronavirus is that the consequences of it do not manifest immediately, they manifest later. This was the biggest mistake that this government and the EC have made but they will not admit to it,” Muntaka Mubarak said.

Despite claims by government backed by the Electoral Commission that the previous voter register was bloated, the Asawase MP sighted with examples that the newly compiled one was still bloated.

“Now they targeted to do 15 million and they’ve gone past 15 million is it bloated? In Asawase our old register was about 102,000 and as at yesterday we had done almost 101,000 and they have a mop-up for Saturday and Sunday,” Muntaka told GhanaWeb, adding, “I will be very surprised if we don’t surpass the old number. So then I ask what they have really done.”

With regards to ghost names in the voter register, the NDC loyalist said, “At least I know five people who registered and they are already dead and by the time it's election, only God knows the number of people who will die. You don’t do things with your emotions, it was about ego, arrogance.”

“When coronavirus came, we needed to preserve every cedi but in my view, it’s just like you open a tap and brought a basket to fetch the water and now billions have just gone down the drain. So many people have been hurt from the violence which we saw and I believe we’ve not learnt anything from it,” he added.

Government spent over GHC 350 million in the compilation of a new voters register which has so far seen over 16 million citizens registered onto the list.

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