‘Secret’ printing of new criminal voter identification cards – Asiedu Nketia to the EC

General news for Friday, September 25, 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2020-09-25

The secret printing of the new voter cards that the Electoral Commission has taken over has been classified as criminal by the opposition Democratic National Congress.

The NDC alleged that the EC was secretly printing voter cards on the blind side of political parties.

In a rebuttal, the EC said technical problems related to code duplication forced them to print the cards at “Headquarters and subsequently send them to the District Offices for lamination and distribution.”

But in response to the EC in an NDC press, NDC General Secretary Asiedu Nketia accused the commission of acting on criminal grounds, as it failed to inform political parties of its actions.

“The fact that the Electoral Commission sanctioned the printing by the blind side of the political parties is a self-admission of criminality and the person who wrote that letter should already be in court. Because it’s like admitting that you are printing counterfeit currency. “Asiedu Nketia said.

He added: “Another requirement for the transparent printing of the voter identification card is that the Electoral Commission itself publish the provisional registration on the website so that it is not only available to political parties, but to the general population, including those people who are not Ghanaians. that if other non-Ghanaians want to attest to the transparency of their choice, they can access that information. “

Asiedu Nketia pointed out that the EC should have informed the political parties of its challenges before going ahead with its decisions.

“Political parties are invited to observe and monitor the printing of ballots from the printing presses to the voting tables. In the same way, a voter identification card is printed in the same place where the registration is made. In the process of registrants and agents of political parties ”, said the Secretary General of the NDC.

According to him, the registry has lost its credibility as it has given space for illegible voters to register.

He said, “People don’t know if you are printing cards for them and no one can trace the distribution. So what happens if you print more cards and send them to people who are not eligible to register? So what happens if people go and can’t find their names in the registry, the EC will be forced to put their names in the registry? Which means he’s searching people through the back door. “