NDC's Voter Register claims dismissed by EC

Accra, Ghana - September 11, 2024 -  The Electoral Commission (EC) has cleared the voter register of any wrongdoing, dismissing allegations of tampering and illegal vote transfers made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The opposition party had raised concerns over the register's accuracy and called for a forensic audit, but the EC's internal investigation found no evidence to support these claims.

The NDC's Deputy Director of Elections and IT, Dr. Tanko Rashid-Computer, had alleged that the register had been inflated and compromised, and also expressed concerns over the loss of critical election equipment.

“When we went to meet the Electoral Commission on Friday, the security checks they subjected us to before entering the hall were enough to indicate that if your attack dog refuses to bark at someone stealing from you, you should start questioning it. When this happened and we sent the questionnaire, the EC initially denied it,” he said.

However, the EC's findings have put these concerns to rest, ensuring the integrity of the electoral process.

The Electoral Commission's Director of Electoral Services, Benjamin Bano-Bio, revealed that an internal investigation by the EC's IT department debunked the NDC's allegations of 15,000 illegal vote transfers.

He explained that the issue was isolated to the Pusiga area and was promptly resolved due to the system's robust accountability measures.

According to him, the EC identified and rectified the problem, reversing all 38 erroneous transfers, contradicting the NDC's claims of widespread tampering.

“We did not stop there. We tasked our IT team to go through all the detected transfers to determine if such a situation occurred across the country. We have not found any other cases in this regard," he stated.

“As a party they have the right demonstrate, if you have issues and they want to present to our office, we have no problem. We would accept them but we want to encourage to ensure that civility prevails so that it does not turn out into something," he added.

Meanwhile, The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) protest as a "storm in a teacup", accusing the opposition of seeking to create unnecessary tension.

Evans Nimako, NPP's Director of Election and Research, advised the NDC to engage in constructive dialogue with the Electoral Commission (EC) to address their grievances, rather than resorting to demonstrations and "war mongering".

Nimako suggested that the NDC's actions are merely a tactic to test the system and manufacture controversy.

"I am saying that where we have been given the register and printed it out to our people to go out and monitor it at the polling station, our focus is to reach out to as many voters as possible and ensure that, on D-Day, December 7, the majority of them turn out to vote for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia," he said.

Source: Lead News Online