The pain of 2020 defeat is deep hence your persistent lies against EC – NPP to Mahama

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has told former president John Dramani Mahama that the 2020 elections are over therefore, he should manage to get over it.

A Deputy Director of Communications of the NPP, Mr Richard Nyama said at a press conference in Accra on Friday October 29 that the shock and pain that accompanied the defeat by the Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the polls is deep hence his never-ending lies against the Electoral Commission just to discredit the elections management body.

His comments come after Mr Mahama had alleged that the Electoral Commission thumb printed one million ballot papers in favour of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 2020 presidential election.

Mr Mahama claimed when he addressed the Divisional Chief of Prestea Himan, Nana Nteboah Prah, recently, as part of his Thank You tour of the Western Region that “More than one million extra ballot papers were printed, which the EC claimed happened by mistake but on the day of the elections, some of the more than one million extra ballot papers had already been secretly thumb-printed in favour of the NPP.”

He added “And, so, all these things dented the credibility of the polls and caused an embarrassment”,

But a Deputy Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC) Dr Bossman Asare, asked the Police to investigate a claim.

Dr Bossman Asare said at a press conference that “We see that our silence on this matter has dire consequences on public confidence in the Commission, and we want the police to investigate it,” he stressed.

“Distinguished citizens, in the last few weeks Former President Mahama has made a number of allegations against the EC and the 2020 elections. As Officials charged with the responsibility of conducting elections in Ghana, we owe it a duty to provide Ghanaians with the facts and the truth about the elections and the allegations raised. We are of the view that our silence on these false allegations could have dire consequences as it could undermine citizens’ confidence our dear country.

“The Former President has said the EC thumb printed 1million ballots in favor of the president. This is untrue. This is a grave matter that undermines the credibility of our electoral process and should not be ignored. We call on him to provide evidence to support his claim. This is not a matter to be ignored and we call on the Ghana Police Service to investigate this.

“The Transparency of our process makes it totally impossible for this to happen. At the polling stations, prior to the start of the elections, the empty ballot boxes are opened and displayed in the presence of everyone, and thereafter they are sealed. There are serial numbers on the ballot papers for each region and constituency. This is made known to the Agents before the elections. Our ballot papers also have security features; so any trace of new material will be clearly visible.

“Again, at the end of the poll, the ballots cast are crosschecked against the voters who were verified and issued the ballot papers. This ensures that over-voting is detected immediately. Nationwide, we had no issue with over-voting at all our 38,622 polling stations except in Savelugu in the parliamentary election where there was one and I repeat one over-voting. The transparency of our processes from the beginning to the end makes this impossible. Ballot Stuffing cannot be done-it is impossible. We call on the Former President in the interest of our democracy to provide evidence of the stuffing of the ballot boxes by the EC.

“The Police should investigate this as a matter of urgency due to its potential to derail and undermine our democracy, and lead to a lack of confidence in our systems and processes.”

Mr Richard Nyarma said “The NPP agrees with the Electoral Commission that the allegations of the former president Mahama that the Commission engaged in electoral fraud through ballot stuffing is uprightly criminal and we call on the Inspector General of Police to invite him for questioning and for the former president to make available all evidence of the said one million stuffed ballots to the Police for the Police for appropriate charges to be brought against the said personnel of the electoral commission who engaged in the said action.”

He added “The pain of this defeat is so deep that he is seeking to destroy ever I situation that played a role in the 2020 election s by fabricating and maligning them. And sending his harks to do same. The net effect of his actions are that he is eroding confidence in our institutions, which institutions he had the privilege of overseeing for about six years as president.

“When it suits him and it is in his favour, he is full of praise for the Electoral Commission and when it is against him hell must break loose.

“For his information the same Electoral Commission after the 2020 elections has been adjudged by the same domestic and international observers as free and fair and by far the most credible , transparent, free and fair elections since 1992 but he is too He is too blinded by pain and anger of his defeat he has not seen or heard this.

“The former President needs to be told in no uncertain terms that elections is over and he should get over it.”