No politically-engineered voter roll can save failed Akufo-Addo – Haruna Attah

Ghana’s ex-High Commissioner to Namibia, Haruna Attah has said in his yet-to-be-launched book that the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has failed and that no politically-engineered register of voters can stop his defeat in the 7 December polls.

“No politically-engineered register can save this failed government from the inevitable defeat that awaits them in the next 165 days”, the veteran journalist wrote in his book: ‘Ahwene Pa Nkasa: Standing with JDM’.

“With or without a register, the NDC shall win this election by the grace of God”, he asserted.

He, therefore, called on Ghanaians “who yearn to see a change in the governance of this country, to rise up and be counted for where there is a will, there is a way”, he added.

The former publisher of the Accra Daily Mail newspaper is billed to launch the book, which recounts his working relationship with former President John Mahama, who is the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, on 28 August 2020.

It is “a vignette of events”, the former High Commissioner described, adding: “It’s a book in two parts: the first part is what I call the homeland briefs and that one talks about our homeland issues, whether it is 'dumsor', whether it is the GITMO-2, whether it is the MONTIE-3, whether it is to do with our chieftaincy system and the ballot box. It’s a collection of so many things.”

Mr Mahama’s running mate, Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang will be the guest of honour.

A few weeks ago, the Electoral Commission applauded itself for having, in its view, organised a very successful voter registration exercise, which ended on Sunday, 9 August 2020.

According to the EC, the exercise was “inclusive, participatory, orderly and peaceful.”

In all, the election management body disclosed that 16,932,492 persons have been captured as voters.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, 12 August 2020, the Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Mensa, commended Ghanaians for coming out in their numbers to register.

She noted that the success of the exercise was also as a result of the training given to all the EC’s temporary staff.

“The efficiency and professionalism of our field staff, coupled with the robustness of the registration kits, contributed to the high number of registrants witnessed today,” she stated.

“On average, we recorded 150 registrants per kit per day, as compared to previous registrations where we averaged some 80 persons per kit per day.

“In some places, field staff recorded up to 280 persons per kit per day”, Mr Mensa said.

She said: “This accounts for our ability to exceed our target of 15 million registrants well before the end of the exercise”.

“It is important to note that by day 31 of the exercise, we had recorded about 15,178,107 applicants,” the EC boss said, adding that at the end of the 36-day exercise, 16,932,492 people had been registered.