@EC Forum: CPP Derides Gen Mosquito...For Comic Relief Presentation

General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress Johnson Asiedu Nketia on Thursday reiterated his party's position on calls for a new voters' register saying the Electoral Commission (EC) should maintain the current register. Speaking at the two day forum on the voters register, Johnson Asiedu Nketia also called General Mosquito argued that a new voters register will not solve the electoral challenges in the country and further believed it will rather overburden the EC financially. The NDC Chief Scribe further noted that even if the nation compiles a new register, there surely will be cases of minors and foreigners having their names captured. To prove his point that minors who registered in the past have come of age and are now adults, Mr. Asiedu Nketia stated “from the morning we entered here up to now, everybody here has had his or her age changed. Is that not it? Yes, you have added some hours to your age”. Touching on reasons advanced by the NPP for a new voter roll because of the impersonation of the dead, he stated that if the arguement is to be conceded, then within every second the EC will be forced to come out with a new one. This he said is because Ghanaians die every day. “From the morning that we entered here till now, new names of dead people have been introduced unto our register – this is because Ghanaians continue to die,” he simply put Thus, he prefers the EC rather seal all loopholes in the current register and rid it of any possible electoral threats. But addressing the issue at the forum, the Deputy Communications Director of the Convention People's Party (CPP) Yaw Adu Larbi was of a strong view that the NDC General Secretary came to entertain the gathering. According to him, he can only draw an "entertainment value" from Mr. Asiedu Nketia's elaboration on the voters register. The CPP Deputy Communications Director countered the arguments and called for a new voters register. “There’s a need for a new register because the last elections showed certain unrealistic increases in the voter turnout in our own constituency which we held at the time. In the year 2004, a total number of 40478 people voted in Jomoro. In 2008, there was a slight increase in 40478 to 39826. It was a slight decrease…In the year 2012; we saw our increase from 39826 to 51286. Now, the CPP [held] more or less held its own in 2012 with 18110 votes only to be superseded by the NDC with 28651 votes. It highlights; this highlighted a certain number of issues.” He also urged the EC to strengthen the National Identification Authority (NIA) to make National Identification Cards for the citizenry. This he believed will help resolve the electoral problems. “We (the CPP) also believe that we should work towards a National Identification System that will undercut all this brouhaha over under-voting, double registration and so on and so forth. Because others have voted, we have issues with minor registration. If we have a National Identification System, it will be root out that problem.”

Source: Adu Gyamfi Ameyaw/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana/email address: ameyawpeacefmonline@gmail.com