The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is desperately undermining the Voters Registration with allegations of ethnocentrism.
The party said the NDC was doing this through “outright fabrications”, “needless exaggerations” and “old-fashioned fear mongering and propaganda tactics”.
Mr Freddie Blay, National Chairman, NPP, speaking at a press conference in Accra, said following the EC’s argument that the equipment holding the existing register was obsolete and the data unreliable, the NDC mounted “an incredibly virulent year-long” campaign of demonstrations, press conferences, and boycotts of IPAC adding, “They threatened brimstone and fire.”
He said the EC was in the final phase of the registration exercise and “we shall leave the Commission to make public its final report for all Ghanaians to draw their own judgment in due time”.
The Chairman said the NDC, having failed at every turn, had decided to introduce and pursue an agenda of preaching ethnic disenfranchisement as their last card.
He called on the people of the Volta Region and all Ghanaians to stand up against being used as political pawns in “this dangerous political game”.
President Mahama and the NDC, he said, were spreading falsehood that the Government was pushing an anti-Ewe agenda to disfranchise people from the Region.
Mr Blay said President Akufo-Addo had been instrumental in maintaining peace and tranquility throughout the country, including in Dagbon since he came into office.
“He will be the last to want to disturb the peace. We must completely and totally reject Mahama’s hate-for-votes campaign and look at the real facts,” he said.
On the allegation of using the military to intimidate some applicants for the Voters’ card, he said the military were deployed months ago to patrol all borders for a variety of security-related reasons.
He said the numbers were even greater along the northern borders than the south east and there were no complaints.
He, therefore, called on Ghanaians not to confuse the genuine efforts to police the borders throughout the country to mean that the NPP was against anyone.
“Elections in Ghana are for Ghanaians, yet, as we speak, a number of Togolese and Nigerians have either been convicted or have their cases pending at the Keta Circuit Court charged with registering for a voter ID card,” he said.
The Party Chairman said, “We love all our brothers and sisters of West Africa, but they cannot vote in our elections as we cannot vote in theirs.”
He, therefore, urged other West Africa Nationals to respect Ghana’s hard-won sovereignty as Ghanaians respected theirs.
The NDC, he said, was trying to misuse social media to distort reality and stir up confusion where there should be none.
“We call on you the media to shine your eyes and be extremely careful in picking up videos from social media and so-called “news” from dubious news websites deliberately set up to manipulate you and the people,” he added.
He urged the media to stop picking up one-sided stories and narratives and magnifying them, indicating that as professionals, the journalists ought to know that one-sided videos from sources of dubious or purely partisan origin could leave them with eggs on their faces.
