By Edward Williams
Hohoe (V/R), Sept. 6, GNA – The Hohoe Constituency branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to, with all urgency, rectify the anomalies in the constituency electoral register ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The Party asked the Commission to give them a copy of the ‘audited’ register as a provisional one to cross-check again before the final register was released.
Mr Prosper Kumi, the Constituency Secretary, at a press conference on the register, said the EC had the responsibility to ensure that there was a credible register and could not shift the burden onto the political parties.
He said the Party was also calling for a forensic audit of the Wli Todzi register to give all stakeholders a credible document they could trust going into the 2024 elections.
Mr Kumi said the voters’ register of Wli Todzi had 2,568 voters while the population census estimates stood at 887, adding that foreigners were on the register since the number of people on voters’ register was three times more than the estimated population.
He said the EC should ensure trust was built in their processes, leading into the main elections and ensured that professionals were recruited onto the field on the main election day.
Mr Kumi said the NDC proposed that political parties were invited to the various training sessions of the field officers to also understand what they were told to go and deliver to avoid distorted instructions on the field.
He called on all professional bodies, including the security services and observer groups to remain neutral in the process.
Mr Kumi said the NDC sought the attention of all peace-preaching institutions to sincerely take up the Party’s demands seriously because the “NDC will defend the will of the people at any time.”
He noted that most of the polling stations visited during the exhibition exercise had different transfer lists being used by the EC officials on the field as compared to the list the EC gave as a provisional list to the NDC.
Mr Kumi said some duplications were on the transfer list and the numbers were far higher on the list the Party had compared to that of the Commission.
He said they also found names on the transfer list that were not part of the list submitted to the Party by the EC at the close of the last transfer window.
“Further investigations revealed that the whole of 2020 and 2023 transfer list was dumped onto the 2024 transfer list, which had not been the practice and that affects the clear assessment of the register.”
Mr Kumi said they had enough information about voters being transported from neighbouring constituencies like Akaa and Atonkor of Buem, Liati and Leklebi of Afadjato South, Arabic Zongo of Kpando and Ayawaso constituencies to transfer their votes to Hohoe.
He said during the exhibition exercise, individuals faced significant challenges from the EC officers in an attempt to clean the register by objecting to the names identified as not residents in their electoral areas.
“Most significant of all is the claim of unavailability of objection forms. Despite these obstacles, 507 objections were made within the exhibition period, but we still have some significant numbers that are in there”.
Mr Kumi said the Party took some deliberate actions to object to deceased voters in the register but contrary to ECs own advertisement on accepting obituaries, it was rejected on the field and people were denied the opportunity to take out the deceased.
He said the Party had engaged the EC at various points as when the Party had issues with the electoral process or procedures.
Mr Thomas Worlanyo Tsekpo, Hohoe National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate, said the Party would do all it could to make the electoral register an authentic one before the 2024 general elections.
Mr Enoch Danso Agyekum, Hohoe Municipal Electoral Officer, speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the Party was supposed to draw the attention of the Commission to the issues raised.
He said the Commission was unaware of any of the issues raised at the press conference, saying the Commission had not received any correspondence on the concerns.
GNA