Wontumi Appeals To US, UK Over Ghana Polls

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Created on Monday, 19 January 2015 00:00

Wontumi Appeals To US, UK Over Ghana Polls

19 January 2015

The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka ‘Wontumi’ has appealed passionately to the US and UK to help Ghana to preserve its nascent democracy.

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He noted that Ghana’s democracy could be seriously threatened in 2016 if the Electoral Commission (EC) continued to refuse to adhere to the NPP’s call for electoral reforms to address the discrepancies.

According to the outspoken NPP regional chairman, from all indications, the EC, led by Dr. Afari Djan, was not ready to undertake electoral reforms to restore confidence in the electoral system, stating that the intervention of the US and UK was crucial.

The NPP has done everything possible to mount pressure on the EC to do the right thing with regards to voter register and other issues concerning the next elections but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears and our foreign allies should help.”

Addressing a mammoth press conference in Kumasi at 7am on Sunday, Wontumi observed that there are several loopholes in the current electoral system in the country.

He pointed out that the EC was acting in a manner that seemed to discriminate against the opposition political parties, a development which has the potential of causing confusion in certain parts of the country.

Likening the EC to a referee,who officiates a match, the NPP chairman said the EC ideally should have been neutral but the current conduct of the EC showed otherwise.

He said the NPP has effectively scrutinized the electoral register and has so far discovered various discrepancies including multiple registration, wrong data input, wrong numbers, among others.

The NPP guru stated that his party had adopted peaceful means to solve the problems but the EC had decided not to cooperate, adding that the current register could not guarantee free and fair polls for the country in 2016.

Wontumi tasked the EC, to as a matter of urgency, produce all the Form A (1) in its possession and compare them with those with the NPP, saying the EC’s refusal to grant this simple request leaves much to be desired.

“The only way to help verify the authenticity or otherwise of the register is for the Commission to produce the Form A (1) data and also publish all the details on their website for the public to be able to access them,” he stated.

“We want the EC to make copies of the Form A (1) available to us all; in the case of Ashanti Region, we have difficulties reconciling figures and other particulars in 38 constituencies,” he underscored, adding that the biometric registration ought to be programmed to automatically prevent double registration.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi

Source: Daily Guide