NDC to register underage for 2016

As the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is struggling hard to quell its internal wrangling, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) is reportedly making serious arrangements to register underage children for the impending limited registration exercise to be undertaken by the Electoral Commission (EC).

The move is to make such persons eligible for voting in the 2016 general elections.

The move, which makes nonsense of Ghana’s Constitution and violates the electoral laws of the country, was revealed to DAILY GUIDE by sources close to the party’s leaderships at the national and the region levels.

To this end, a closed-door meeting was held from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Wednesday, June 25, in Ho, the Volta Regional capital, to strategize on how to ensure that the party gets a lot of underage people to be registered.

The limited registration exercise was scheduled to take place between June 20 and 29 this year but later postponed to a later date, according to sources at the Commission.

DAILY GUIDE sources confirmed that the said meeting was held at the Volta Regional Residency.

It allegedly involved the Deputy Regional Minister, Francis Ganyaglo; the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Kofi Adams; the NDC Regional Chairman, Akwasi Aboagye; National Youth Organiser, Ludwig Akpene Hlordze; his Deputy, Kofi Fonu and the Acting Regional Organiser, Siki Abibu.

The meeting is believed to have been organized at the instance of Siki and Ludwig to mobilize the youth in the region to canvass for new members. In all, over 50 youth organizers and other youth leaders of the party from across the region were present.

The target set for the region for the registration exercise is reported to be 125,000 children.

At the meeting, the various speakers encouraged the youth to ensure that the target was exceeded. This, they should do by drafting in students of junior high and the senior high schools.

“We were particularly directed to target young people between the ages of 15 and 18 years since that will solidify the future of the party,” a source at the meeting revealed.

Mr. Akwesi Aboagye urged them to work hard and get the numbers for the party to make a strong case for the region to claim a large portion of the national cake.

Mr. Kofi Adams cautioned that agitations against the government and the party for more development projects in the region should not halt the biometric registration, because the concerns of the region would soon be fully addressed.

The Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Francis Ganyaglo, noted that the government was undertaking a lot of development projects, despite the economic challenges facing the region.

The youth, in response, expressed their commitment to the exercise and prayed that the concerns of foot soldiers and the region would be swiftly addressed to make their work and the 2016 campaign easier.

When Siki Abibu was contacted about the move to register underage people, particularly JHS and SHS students, he denied it.

He however confirmed that there was such a meeting, but it was merely a platform to get the youth of the region ready for 2016.

He said the biometric registration of NDC members was key for the party to keep track of its members and get it ready for victory in 2016.