Stop the 'shadow boxing' and focus on ‘harvesting’ votes – Baako to NPP, NDC

“What do they (NDC) want the independent auditor to do that the existing laws cannot do?” renowned journalist Kweku Baako Jnr. has asked.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is requesting an independent audit into the newly compiled voters’ register.

This follows claims by the Electoral Commission (EC) that there are minors and foreigners among the 16.9 million persons registered to vote on December 7.

Director of Elections of the NDC, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah at a Press conference in Accra cited multiple registrations as grounds for the independent audit.

“...we’re reliably informed that the EC’s own Biometric system is defective and therefore de-duplicating registrants by itself,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Ashanti regional branch of the National Democratic Congress has accused the Electoral Commission of deliberately inflating figures in the ongoing registration exercise to enable the NPP rig the 2020 general elections.

Kweku Baako speaking on Joy FM's Newsfile programme, Saturday said instead of jostling over figures, the various political parties should concentrate on mobilization and 'harvesting' the figures to their advantage.

He said debating over the numbers is like engaging in ‘shadow boxing’.

“This doesn't translate into actual voting for you...it’s about mobilization...that is what will attract the votes but what they are doing now is shadow boxing. It’s for the political parties to go out there and attract the votes...it’s how you harvest the votes and not the registration,” he advised.

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for North Dayi constituency, George Loh believes if there are still minors in the register even after a new one has been compiled, then we're back to 'square one'.

Contributing to a discussion on Neat FM, he bemoaned that "nothing new has been achieved".