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16.11.2012 Elections

Ghana Elections: Don’t Go Home After Voting; Hang Around To Monitor—NAPO

By WILLIAM NANA YAW BEEKO
Member of Parliament for Manhyia Constituency of the Ashanti Region, Hon. Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh aka NAPOMember of Parliament for Manhyia Constituency of the Ashanti Region, Hon. Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh aka ‘NAPO’
16.11.2012 LISTEN

Member of Parliament for Manhyia Constituency of the Ashanti Region, Hon. Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh aka 'NAPO', has charged eligible voters in the impending 2012 General Elections of Ghana to hang around polling stations after casting their votes.

This, he said, can go a long way to help keep eagle eyes on the whole voting process polling station by polling station.

He indicated that this development can also keep the whole voting process in check in the name of ensuring vigorous vigilance.

The Manhyia MP's assertion however, goes contrary to that of an earlier warning issued by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, (EC) Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, which sought to admonish electorates to leave electoral grounds and go home after voting.

Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, who was speaking in an interview on Accra-based Okay FM, further alleged that recent exposé on the registration of kids in the biometric registration exercise is a grand machination by the ruling NDC to rig the elections.

“The NDC has registered minors in a grand attempt to subvert the will of the good people of Ghana and turn the results around in their favour by rigging the 2012 elections,” the NPP MP pointed out.

He was reacting to reports that the EC has recorded a number of flaws in the biometric registration exercise which had to do with the registration of children.

It would be recalled that the Electoral Commission (EC) made a disturbing revelation that the 2012 biometric register has a high number of underage potential voters.

The troubling news was disclosed by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan on Thursday at a press conference in Accra.

Dr. Afari Gyan said even though it has not been confirmed, he was informed at a meeting that the Ashanti and Volta Regions, considered as the strongholds of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) respectively, had the highest number of minors in the register.

The EC Chairman expressed disquiet about the situation and slammed the deceptive tendencies displayed by people in the registration exercise despite all the public education on the process.

In a related development, the EC has added three thousand more polling centres to the existing 23,015 centres for the December polls bring the number of centres to 26,015.

Dr. Afari Gyan explained that the decision to increase it was because some of the polling centres had too many subscriptions which could slow down the process on voting day.

The 3,000 new centres are spread across the ten regions in the country.

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