‘Secret’ printing of new voters ID cards criminal – Asiedu Nketia to EC

The secret printing of the new voter’s identification cards which the Electoral Commission has taken responsibility of has been described as an act of criminality by the opposition National Democratic Congress.

The NDC alleged that the EC was printing voter cards in secrecy on the blind side of political parties.

In a rebuttal, the EC said technical issues that had to do with duplication of codes forced them to print the cards at the “Headquarters and subsequently sent to the District Offices for lamination and distribution.”

But responding to the EC at an NDC presser, the NDC’s General Secretary, Asiedu Nketia accused the commission acting on criminal grounds since they did not inform political parties of their actions.

“The fact that the Electoral Commission sanctioned the printing on the blind side of the political parties is a self-admission of criminality and the person who wrote that letter should be in court by now. Because it’s like admitting that you are printing counterfeit currency.” Asiedu Nketia said.

He added, “One other requirement for the transparent printing of voters ID card is for the Electoral Commission itself to publish the provisional register on the website so that it is not only available to political parties but the general population including people who are not Ghanaians so that if others who are non-Ghanaian want to attest to the transparency of your election, they can access that information.”

Asiedu Nketia noted that the EC should have informed political parties of their challenges before going ahead with their decisions.

“Political parties are invited to observe and monitor the printing of ballot papers right from the printing houses to the polling station. In the same way, a voter ID card is printed at the same place where the registration takes place. In the process of the registrants and the political party agents,” the NDC General Secretary said.

According to him, the register has lost his credibility since it has given room for illegible voters to register.

He said, “the people don’t know if you are printing cards for them and nobody can track the distribution. So what happens if you print more cards and you issue them to people who are not eligible to register? So what if people go and can’t find their names in the register, the EC will be compelled to put their names in the register. Which means you are registering people through the back door.”