NPP, EC leading Ghana into civil war, they'll get it - Boakye Gyan

Major Osahene Boakye Gyan (rtd) is warning of impending doom should the Electoral Commission connive with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the upcoming December polls.

The former military officer accused the EC of gradually leading the country into a civil war with its bull-headedness, particularly regarding the decision to compile a new voters register.

Cooked Figures

Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Programme, Osahene Boakye Gyan claimed the EC, having a desire to rig the 2020 elections with the tacit assistance of the ruling NPP, is hell-bent on having a new register.

"This party (NPP) won power with the biggest electoral margin; so what has gone wrong?...this morning, I overheard an NPP activist on radio claiming if elections are held today, Nana Addo will be re-elected with some one million, three hundred thousand votes difference. See, the NPP has cooked up the figures already, they are simply looking for the means to legitimize their rigging by undertaking a registration exercise (through the EC)....," he alleged.

If They Want Civil War, They Will Get It!

The former military capo strongly held that the country can go to the polls this year without resort to putting together a new register as was done in 2016.

Sounding a note of caution, he pointed out that most electoral disputes in Africa have resulted in civil wars and Ghana is not immune to it, and warned that "should the EC continue to toe the line of their paymasters, it will certainly spell doom for this country."

"...it is political motivation that led to the dismissal of Madam Jean Mensah as the EC Chairperson by the current administration. They want to beef up the numbers so they can win simply because they don't have confidence in their winning numbers, otherwise, they won't tamper with it...But more importantly...post-independence Africa, all crises and civil wars have been on the back of disputed electoral results. What they are doing now, they are driving us into a civil war and if they want it, they will get it," he screamed.



Plans Far Advanced For NVR

In a related development, the EC says it will observe all the necessary safety measures to curb the spread of Coronavirus when it begins compiling a new register of voters.

“All stakeholders are hereby reminded that plans are far advanced for the compilation of a new voter register with a new voter management system for the upcoming 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections,” the EC said in a statement on Monday, 11 May 2020 signed by Acting Public Affairs Director Sylvia Annor.

The Commission said it is “sensitive to the current state of affairs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will abide by the necessary precautions and safety protocols in the execution of its mandate when it deems it appropriate to begin the compilation of the register”.

The exercise had been scheduled to start in April but has been put on ice indefinitely following the outbreak of Coronavirus in Ghana.

The EC's statement was in response to a comment passed by Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, who castigated the Chair as running the election management body like an NGO.