Remain calm and vigilant - Boakye Agyarko urges NPP

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Category: Special Reports

Created on Monday, 26 March 2012 00:00

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-As biometric registration starts with faulty machines, delays, irregularities galore

The Campaign Manager of the 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party has urged members, sympathisers and party agents of the NPP to remain calm and vigilant in the face of the “teething problems” that have beset the first two days of the biometric voter registration exercise.

In an exclusive interview with the New Statesman yesterday, Kyeremanteng Boakye Agyarko noted that since the ongoing voter registration exercise is employing the use of new technology, there are bound to be some teething problems, some of which may be genuine whilst others may not.

According to reports from virtually every registration centre across the country, a litany of problems has been associated with the registration exercise.

The problems include delayed start of the exercise, mainly caused by the delay in carting registration materials to the various centres, faulty registration equipment, i.e. printers, laptops, and scanners, and voter registration irregularities in the form of attempted registration of minors and foreigners.

The reports further seemed to suggest that the problems were more prevalent in perceived strongholds of the opposition New Patriotic Party, heightening suspension of a grand scheme by the EC and the NDC to manipulate the process to the electoral advantage of the ruling party.

Indeed, before the exercise, there had been widespread reports about an alleged plot to frustrate voters in perceived NPP strongholds, especially in the Ashanti region, as part of the ruling party’s diabolical effort to reduce the number of votes in the NPP’s stronghold in the December polls.

There were also reports of pockets of alleged NDC-sponsored violence and intimidations in some strongholds of the NPP in the Brong-Ahafo region, especially in Techiman, allegedly carried out with the tacit support of the Techiman Municipal Police Commander, who has been accused of being in cahoots the ruling NDC.

The Brong-Ahafo Regional Chairman of the NPP, Asomah Cheremeh, has therefore called on the authorities to put the Police Commander in check to ensure peace in the area, warning that the NPP was mobilising its supporters for a counter-attack against the suspected NDC thugs who were going round terrorising NPP supporters with impunity.

However, in the face of these problems and obvious provocations, Nana Addo’s Campaign Manager says party faithful must remain calm, assuring them that the party hierarchy is on top of the issues.

“This is a 40-day exercise and it is important we remain calm and vigilant about the process. I want to assure all NPP members, sympathisers and party agents that the party, as well as the campaign team, are on top of issues surrounding this process,” he said.

Mr Agyarko revealed that the party had put in place an effective mechanism to ensure the integrity of the process is maintained, adding that the party would not sit down for any manipulations to be carried out to its electoral disadvantage.

Boakye Agyarko continued: “My appeal to party supporters and party agents is that we remain vigilant and watchful. It is at the grassroots level that we will be effective in controlling any form of fraud that anyone may try to perpetrate on the process.”

Mr Agyarko also congratulated party agents for a sterling job done so far in ensuring the registration process goes on smoothly and asked them to exhibit the same level of efficiency in the remaining days of the exercise.

Fiifi Arhin Source: The Statesman