NPP begs Togolese for votes

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has entangled itself in the dilemma of a sudden love relationship with the people of the Volta region, which has variously been described as fake and amounts to a high price to be paid by the opposition party yet again when the electorate go to the polls to choose the next government on November 7.

What is most shocking is that the two persons leading the chorus of the fake NPP love affair with Volta are Dr Nana Akufo-Addo and his political protégé and running mate, who led the charge in describing Volta electorate as being Togolese whose names were smuggled onto the Volta electoral role by the Electoral Commission (EC) and the NDC.

The NPP running mate was on a campaign tour in the Ho-West Constituency of the Volta Region last week and called on the people to ‘taste the NPP soup too’, by voting for his boss, Dr Akufo-Addo in the November 7 elections, asking the people to repose their trust in the NPP for a better management of the economy and promising them a remarkable socio-economic prosperity thereafter.

Dr Bawumia’s last tour of the NDC ‘world bank’ was one of many such campaign trips he has made in recent times and came closely on the heels of a similar tour of some parts of the region by his boss.

Tongues have been waging about the NPP’s sudden obsession with the Volta region, which its leaders openly brag has finally fallen to the opposition party as a result of the persistent campaign trips there by the NPP flagbearer and his running mate.

The Catalyst can report that the reference made by Dr Bawumia to 76,000 of voters in the Volta region as Togolese is still very fresh in the minds of Voltarians. The paper can also state that the so-called Volta-Togolese electorate believes that the NPP running made the insulting comment under the express instruction of his boss, Dr Nana Dr Akufo-Addo.

It was not thus surprising that a creaming banner with the inscription: ‘WELCOME TO THE REPUBLIC OF TOGO’ ushered Dr Akufo-Addo into the Ketu South constituency during his last tour of that part of the Volta region. Also, a planned rally at Aflao to climax the 4-day campaign tour was cancelled at the last minute with the NPP flagbearer rushing out of the area, for lack of patronage, notwithstanding the grand media propaganda that the trip was a huge success.

Dr. Bawumia, speaking at a widely publicized press conference in Accra on Tuesday 18th August 2015, said the party’s team identified this suspected anomaly after comparing Ghana’s register with that of Togo.

Against this backdrop, Dr Bawumia claimed that in order to help tackle, what he called a problem, and make the next election more credible, EC must compile a new voters’ register by June 2016, saying the Commission should give Ghanaians a new Permanent Voters Card (PVC) as was done in Nigeria.

The NPP however sent Mr Peter Mac Manu to defend Dr Bawumia’s claims at an open forum created by the EC for political parties and other stakeholders to discuss the matter of the voters’ register. NPP failed to prove its claims at the forum but continued to fan agitations through appendage groups like ‘Let My Vote Count Alliance’ (LMVCA).

The Justice VCRAC Crabbe Committee set up by the EC, which presided over the open forum and collated the various views, found not an iota of credibility in Dr Bawumia’s claims that 76% of voters in the Volta region are Togolese.

General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Aseidu Nketia at a press conference, following the Committee’s findings, called for the arrest of Dr Bawumia.

He accused the NPP running mate of fabricating documents to back the NPP's claims that the current electoral roll is bloated and must be changed.

He said the country's laws must be activated to punish the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Bawumia to provide a credible evidence to back his claims or be made to face the full rigours of the law.

To save face, the NPP claimed it had decided not to pursue the matter any longer.

The people of the Volta region are wondering how suddenly, the NPP flagbearer and his running mate have developed an insatiable taste for the same ‘Togolese’ votes they claimed to have absolute abhorrence for, and went to all lengths in a futile bid to get rid of 76,000 names of Volta electorate from the register before the November 7.