NPP announced new voter register date first – Kofi Adams alleges

A former National Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Adams, is alleging that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is behind the move by the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) to compile a new voters’ register. He claims the NPP are in bed with the EC and that must come as a worry to all Ghanaians. Mr Adams, who is the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Buem Constituency, consequently called on well-meaning Ghanaians to stop the EC from going ahead to compile a new register. He was speaking on TV3/3FM’s The Key Points on Saturday. The decision by the EC to procure new biometric voter registration (BVR) kits as well as biometric verification devices (BVDs) has stirred controversy as some political parties – forming the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voter Register (IPRNA) – have registered their opposition strongly. They have hit the streets in some major regional capitals and are marching to the headquarters of the EC on Tuesday. Their latest move – which comes after a suspension of the street protests – comes as a result of what they say is failure on the part of the Eminent Advisory Committee (EAC) of the EC to come out with an agreed communique after a dialogue on Thursday, January 30. Mr Adams, who is a former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, said most Ghanaians got to know about the EC’s move through the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu. He said Mr Boadu announced even the date for the start of the registration on Accra-based Asempa FM way ahead before the EC came out. “How did the General Secretary of a political party know of the date,” he wondered, insinuating that the EC is doing the bidding of the ruling party and “there is something that goes on that we are unaware of”. Kofi Adams claims the EC is just being intransigent and the current BVR kits can undertake the purpose for which it wants to procure new ones. He observed that even the reason given by the Chair of EC, Jean Mensa, that the BVR kits looked like portmanteau for an engagement ceremony means there is no particular reason behind her decision. Mr Adams said despite the independence of the EC, it cannot “get up and do anything that you want”. By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|editors.3news.com|Ghana Follow @kwame_amoh