Justin Kodua Frimpong, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has joined Anthony Karbo and the ruling party’s National Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye, in criticizing last Tuesday’s demonstration by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) dubbed ‘Enough is Enough’ against the Electoral Commission (EC).
He described the protest as unjustified due to the NDC’s failure to provide evidence of irregularities in the provisional voters’ register.
Earlier, the NPP National Organizer nicknamed “Nana B” had described the NDC’s call on the EC for a forensic audit, as unwarranted and empty.
Anthony Karbo, a senior aide on Dr Bawumia’s campaign team, had downplayed the NDC “Enough is Enough” protest over the voter register, describing it as nothing more than a “keep fit” exercise.
Addressing journalists in Accra, yesterday, Thursday, Kodua Frimpong, said the NDC, has still not submitted any evidence concerning the alleged discrepancies or irregularities in the voters’ register.
“Many Ghanaians and the NPP, cannot comprehend why the NDC, has not submitted to the EC detailed information of its so-called irregularities, discrepancies, and unauthorised entries in the provisional voters’ register, despite several appeals by the EC.
“For instance, on page two of their petition to the EC, the NDC stated emphatically that they have uncovered evidence of 243,540 illegal transfers, 3,957 deleted names, as well as over 15,000 unidentified voter transfer cards in the provisional register. ”
“Yet 13 days after the NDC first met the EC on September 6, 2024, they have still not provided a single document to authenticate any of these allegations. We ask, is this not interesting?”
“Indeed, if the NDC has any evidence of illegal transfers, why have they not submitted evidence of such an illegality to be reversed by the EC?
“We believe strongly that the nationwide demonstration by the NDC would have been justified had the EC failed to act after receiving evidence from the NDC on the alleged irregularities and discrepancies,” he stated.
The NPP scribe later clarified on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News that, it is not opposed to the NDC’s call for a forensic audit of the 2024 voters register, but insists that the proper legal procedures must be adhered to, referencing a 2016 ruling by Justice V. C. R. A. C. Crabbe, which outlined the steps to be taken when requesting an audit of Ghana’s voters register.
Frimpong Kodua, emphasized that the NPP strongly believes in following due process when addressing such concerns.
“We are not against the EC correcting mistakes [in the voters register] if there are any, but what we are saying is that the corrections are to be done through the voters register exhibition exercise and this is backed by law and the law states clearly what needs to be done. There will always be laws and the EC has always followed that law to have mistakes corrected.”
He added that the NDC’s demands are not based on evidence, but just speculations and dared its leadership to make the evidence it has public.
“To start with, the allegation that the NDC is making, have they submitted it to the EC? The EC made it clear in its statement that the NDC, has not made available any evidence to the EC. On what basis are they making the allegations?
“If they genuinely have any issues, they should make it known to all of us, because the NDC has a track record of these things and if you can remember, they came out in 2020 and said they had won the elections and when they took it to court, they could not provide any evidence.”
Ahead of yesterday’s press conference, the NPP General Secretary, threatened the EC with street protests if it allowed an independent forensic audit into the 2024 provisional voters register as demanded by the NDC.
A post shared on his official X page yesterday, Thursday, September 19, 2024, read “If the EC accepts the position of the NDC, the NPP will also hit the streets.”
Last Tuesday, September 17, 2024, the NDC, held a nationwide protest dubbed, ‘Enough is Enough Demo’ against the EC to demand that the electoral body audit the provisional voter’s register for the December 2024 election.
The opposition party, claims that the register has a lot of irregularities and cannot guarantee a free and fair election, although the Commission disagrees with this position.
“The irregularities in the Provisional Voters Register (PVR) are not minor oversights or clerical errors; they indicate a deliberate manipulation of the voter database.
“These irregularities pose a significant and immediate threat to the credibility of the 2024 General Elections. We demand that the Commission takes swift action to preserve the integrity of Ghana’s democratic process and ensure the stability and security of the nation,” the NDC stated in its petition.
The NDC, said it has found more than 243,000 unauthorised voter transfers and that the transfers were made without the knowledge and consent of the affected voters and therefore, raised significant questions about who approved them and what role EC officials may have played in facilitating such changes.
However, in a Facebook post, dated September 17, 2024, Henry Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, stated that the demonstration and the call for a forensic audit were unwarranted and, thus, should be rejected by all and sundry.
Nana B said, “the NDC failed to provide any legal basis for its unwarranted call for the Electoral Commission to cede its constitutional mandate regarding the voter register to some third party.”
Quoting Article 45 of the 1992 constitution, and section 2 of the Electoral Commission Act, 1993 (Act 451), Nana B, opines that, the EC is conferred with exclusive right to compile electoral register and to supervise all elections.
He said, “In pursuance of this mandate, Article 46 of the Constitution and Section 3 of Act 451 expressly guarantees the independence of the Commission in the performance of its functions and make it not subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.”
The Supreme Court, in several cases, including Philip Kwaku Apaloo, (2010), Ransford France (2012), Abu Ramadan Series (No. 1 and 2) and NDC v AG (2020) has upheld the independence of the EC and affirmed that where multiple choices avail the EC in the performance of its functions, the EC has the sole discretion to choose one and nobody, not even the Courts can compel otherwise except the decision is unconstitutional.
“The present choice of the EC in working with the parties to address any concerns has been the practice throughout the 4th Republic and successfully resulted in five (5) elections.
The insistence of the NDC in controlling the EC by compelling the introduction of a 3rd party into the execution of the EC’s constitutional mandate is a breach of its independence. More so, when the EC throughout its processes has constantly engaged parties at IPAC and actively worked to resolve any concerns.”
Nana B, further stated, “The NDC should know, that while the EC may engage stakeholders in the performance of its functions, that cannot be construed as conferring a right to decide what choices the EC makes in the execution of its constitutional mandate.”
Karbo, stated that the NDC, is fully aware that the EC had established internal mechanisms to address any discrepancies in the voters’ register.
Speaking to the media during a campaign tour in Kpone-Katamanso on Tuesday, he emphasised that the NPP, remains focused on delivering its message to the electorate, rather than being distracted by the NDC’s demonstrations.
“We’ve been through that path before it didn’t work for us, so why do we go back to it? A forensic audit will always do something monumental. There are no two ways about a forensic audit. We are sitting here the American voters register for elections in November, is not a perfect register.
“That which was used in London is not a perfect register. Any forensic audit conducted anywhere in the world, will reveal some discrepancies, but whether those are significant to change the outcome of an election is left to be known. We don’t need any forensic audit.”
“…Many years back when we were asking, they gave us these responses. Many years on, they are now asking what we were asking in the past and they are getting the same responses. Why should we support that?
“… Well, I think it’s an exercise. It’s an exercise. You know, sometimes in this, our politics, there’s a lot of keep fit exercises. People must get out and show force. I mean, those are all the antics leading to an election and I don’t think that is a very serious enough demonstration,” he stated.
