Voters Register: NDC want Bawumia arrested for deception

Deputy Communications Director of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, Fred Agbenyo has urged the Police to immediately arrest the running mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamdu Bawumiah for deception.

According to him, Dr Bawumiah concocted a document he claimed to be the Togo voters register to deceive the Electoral Commission (EC) and the public into supporting the NPP’s claim that Ghana’s current voters register is loaded with Togolese and hence renders the electoral role not credible.

The largest opposition New Patriotic Party has since last year been championing the course for a new voters register ahead of the November General elections, insisting the register contains several anomalies. The NPP claimed that its scrutiny of the register established over 76,000 Togolese on the Ghana electoral roll.

The party subsequently petitioned the EC over their findings. However in response, the EC stated:

“In examining the identity and status of the 76,000 Togolese alleged to be on Ghana’s Register, the EC found that they were all duly registered during the mass registration period in 2012. Most of the voters were registered in districts in the Volta and Northern Regions.

These districts include Keta, Ketu South, Ketu North, Akatsi South, Akatsi North, Adaklu, Agotime Ziope, Ho Municipality, Kpando Municipality and Tatale/Sanguli. Our conclusion from this examination is that the voters are duly qualified under the laws of Ghana to be on Ghana’s Register”.

The EC added: “The NPP did not provide any proof of the citizenship status of these persons and did not show any proof that they were not entitled to be registered in Ghana. Registration on the register of another country, under the current laws of Ghana, does not take away one’s eligibility to be on the Ghanaian Register.”

“The Commission was also unable to confirm the authenticity of the Togolese Register used by the NPP in their analysis as the Electoral Commission of Togo declined to provide the EC with a copy of its register or confirm the authenticity of the soft copy of the register used by the NPP. It is important to observe that in the petition of the NPP dated August 18, 2015, the party claimed to have based its analysis on copies of the register displayed in Togo prior to their elections. However, upon request from the EC for the register used in the analysis, the NPP presented a soft copy of the Togo Register which the Togolese Electoral Commission says it had not given out to any third parties.” The EC further said.

Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo show Tuesday, Mr Fred Agbenyo emphasized that the denial by the Togo Electoral Commission makes the arrest and questioning of Dr Bawumia very necessary.

“Dr Bawumia must not be walking freely by now, he must be arrested by the police for questioning as to why he used a fake Togo register to deceive Ghanaians. He just concocted a document and presented it to Ghanaians to push his party’s agenda. He heightened tension in the country with that dubious claim.”

He added: “Dr Bawumia and his NPP told Ghanaians that they had done only 10% of work on the register which allegedly revealed that huge number of Togolese registered, and they promised to come out with the remaining ninety percent (90%) of their investigations. Ghanaians are waiting for them; they should tell us when they are going to make their additional findings public.”