Kennedy Agyapong raises alarm over proxy voting

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has alleged that the Electoral Commission (EC) wants to use the “suspicious” proxy voting agenda to rig the December general election in favour of President John Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to him, the EC intends to rake in as many as 700,000 votes from the proxy voting and add to President Mahama’s votes.

The Assin Central MP, who was speaking on a political talk-show, ‘Boiling Point’ on Oman FM Tuesday evening, noted that the writings were clear on the wall that President Mahama and his NDC would terribly lose the 2016 polls if the playing field was leveled by the EC and for that matter, everything was being done to rig the elections.

He recalled that the commission, then chaired by Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, claimed it had registered 241,000 Ghanaians living abroad to cast their votes in the 2012 elections, only for it (commission) to produce a list of just 704 Ghanaians when the Supreme Court ordered him to produce all the list for the 241,000 Ghanaians registered abroad.

Mr Kennedy Agyapong indicated that he went to the USA recently and had intelligence that some people had come there for a secret meeting with some top NDC officials on how to fashion out a strategy to rig the elections for the NDC.

He asserted that at the meeting was a reverend minister and very soon he would be coming out with the names of those who held the secret meeting and the venue where it was held.

Mr Agyapong has therefore, cautioned the leadership of the NPP not to accept any proxy voting because it is an agenda to rake in 700,000 votes for President Mahama.

“I want to sound a note of caution to the leaders of the party that they should resist this proxy voting thing,” he said, stressing that if they do not heed to this advice and the party loses the elections, the growing anger and dissatisfaction among the grassroots supporters would be directed at them.

“The grassroots people have been telling me that if we the people in leadership do not do our things right for the NDC to steal the elections again, they will invade our houses and beat all of us up. In fact, when these people come, I will join them to teach our leaders some lessons since the suffering is too much for our people,” the MP warned.

The policy advisor to the flag bearer of the NPP, Boakye Agarko, on the same platform, ridiculed the president for copying the policies of the NPP.

He said when the president went to Cape Coast on Tuesday, he (president) promised the people that he would provide one meter for each household – ‘one house, one meter.’

“If one compares ‘one house one meter’ message by President Mahama to Nana Akufo-Addo’s ‘one district, one factory’ and ‘one village, one dam’ policy, which one of the two leading contenders’ message will have positive effect on the lives of the people?” he asked.