National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has said that the party has nothing to do with the official of the Electoral Commission (EC) who has been arrested for issuing ballot papers that did not capture the face of the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Sammy Gyamfi says attempts by the NPP to link the NDC to this will fail because the officer in question does not work for the main opposition party.
“The EC is supposed to be an independent constitutional body and so if one officer in the whole of Ghana, in tearing a particular paper makes a mistake as he says, and tears not the whole top part but the smaller part, how is this a rigging plot?
“This is yet another frivolous allegation by a desperate failed political party that can smell defeat coming. It was not done by an NDC officer, if anybody is to be blamed it is the EC, not NDC” Sammy Gyamfi said at a press conference responding to the allegation by the NPP that the NDC has a hand in this matter.
Prior to his comments, a Communications Director of the Bawumia team, Dennis Miracles Aboagye had called for the prosecution of the officer in question.
Also addressing a press conference in Accra on Saturday, December 7, Miracles Aboagye said that the NPP agents and Police are vigilant to ensure that unscrupulous persons do not interfere with the electoral process.
“We demand the immediate prosecution of this EC official,” He said.
He added, ” To all those planning with the NDC to cause troubles, we have a robust system in place to find you out.”
The Police have arrested an Electoral Commission (EC) official at Kintampo South Constituency in the Bono East Region, for electoral offences during the ongoing general elections.
According to the Police, the suspect, Dery Joseph, is under investigation for issuing about 15 ballot papers to voters that omitted the first presidential candidate at the Ampesika- Bayere polling station.
𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐄𝐂 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐎 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 pic.twitter.com/TpybWYJEUw
— Ghana Police Service (@GhPoliceService) December 7, 2024
Voting commenced at 7 AM across the country. The polls are expected to end at 5 PM.
On Friday, December 6, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo urged Ghanaians to vote in peace and in dignity.
He also urged all to cooperate with the Electoral Commission (EC) and the security agencies to ensure an incident-free election.
In his address to the nation on Friday, December 6, he said “The flame of freedom needs to be protected and constantly refuelled.
“Ghana is known to be the beacon of democracy on the African continent, we should be justly proud of this and do everything we can to protect this.”
He added that “cooperate with the Electoral Commission and the security agencies. Cast your ballot in peace and dignity, tolerance and mutual respect. We have a reputation to maintain as a nation of peaceful elections.”
