C/R NDC accuses NPP of planning to rig forthcoming elections

Cape Coast, Oct 20, GNA - The Central Regional Secretariat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Monday accused some constituency branches of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of "putting a machinery in place to rig the December general election" in the region. The Secretariat alleged that some executive members of the NPP in the Assin-North and Mfantseman-West constituencies were going round some communities collecting voters' Identification (ID) cards from members of the NDC, with the excuse that they were going to register them with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) or grant them loans. Mr Peter Light Koomson, Regional Secretary of the NDC, who made the allegations at a press conference in Cape Coast, cited the Assin North Constituency for instance where an NPP parliamentary candidate had collected the ID cards of about 50 members of the NDC with the promise of granting them loans.

He said the parliamentary candidate had collected GH¢50.00 each as processing fees in addition to eight passport size photographs. According to Mr Koomson, at Ayaase in the Twifo-Atti Morkwa Constituency, the NPP had again devised a "modus operandi to disenfranchise some people who have Ewe names and are settler farmers, by colluding with officials of the Electoral Commission to delete their names from the voters' register, because they belong to the NDC and pose a threat to the NPP".

The NDC Regional Secretary said the Secretariat had alerted the police about the collection of the ID cards and claimed that some of the culprits have been arrested while the case was under investigation. He said the various communities were therefore being educated to desist from giving out their ID cards to people, since it was an offence to do so.

Mr Koomson, also referred to what he described as a "harmless advice" given by ex-President Rawlings to people in the region, particularly agents of the party not to be influenced by the NPP's "ill gotten wealth", and said this was being used by the NPP as propaganda against the NDC.

He further alleged that as a result, the NPP was inciting the chiefs and people of the region to demonstrate against the former President for insulting Fantis and their Chiefs. Mr Koomson said the party "will not sit unconcerned for the NPP to steal the verdict", and would make the whole world aware of their "sinister motives".

He said the NDC would counter the negative machinery put in place by the NPP to "undermine free and fair elections". "The unblemished Atta Mills will surely see the light of day as the next President of the Republic of Ghana", he said. When contacted, Mr Kwamena Duncan, Regional Secretary of the NPP denied the allegations adding that the NPP would win the polls without engaging in any untoward activity.

He described the allegations as "systematic and systemic agenda of the NDC to deceive the good people of this country". According to him, the founder and some top leaders of the party started those allegations which had now gotten to the constituency levels.

Mr Duncan said NDC was just "crying wolf" and that if the NDC was sure of winning the December polls, there was no need to waste time on such "false allegations" which was a "sign of defeat clearly starring them in the face hence such baseless allegations to win public sympathy".

On the allegation that the EC had colluded with the NPP to delete the names of some Ewe people from the register, Mr Samuel Tettey, Regional Director of the EC denied it, and said names were only deleted from the register after a court ruling.