V/R: Group disputes EC’s figures on NHIS registrants

A Hohoe-based pressure group, ‘Coalition of Democratic Force’ (CDF) has waded into the raging controversy over the exact number of persons who enrolled onto the voters’ register using the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards.

According to the group, the 56,000 names presented by the Electoral Commission (EC) to the Supreme Court last week as persons who used the HNIS card to register prior to the 2012 elections, was nothing but a façade.

Though the constituencies break down of the EC’s 56,000 figure was not in the public domain, the group claims information available to them suggested that only two persons registered from Hohoe using NHIS card.

“It is sad to note that in their submission to the Supreme Court, the Electoral Commission claims that out of the over 60,000 voters on the Hohoe constituency electoral register only two names from Hohoe registered using NHIS card,” Mr. Harrison Adjira, convenor of the group said at a press conference.

He noted the group’s independent check at a polling station at Likpe-Todome in the constituency, revealed over 50 persons registered in 2012 using the NHIS card and as such the EC’s figure was ‘spurious and fake.’

The group is therefore thrown its support behind Abu Ramadan and Evan Nimako, the plaintiffs in the ongoing legal tussle with the EC to ensure the right thing is done for a free and transparent election.