NPP uncovers 'nationwide plot to disenfranchise' voters

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has issued an urgent national alert after it claims to have uncovered a nationwide plot to disenfranchise targeted members of the public and some key identifiable groups.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the party says in its stronghold of the Ashanti Region, for instance, unpaid nurses are being asked to exclusively produce their voter's ID cards to facilitate payments.

“Market women are being promised loans only when they submit their voters I.D cards; voters in Cape Coast are being asked to submit their cards for safe keeping in order to secure their re-registration,” the party said.

The party also claims to have evidence pointing to the payment of 50 cedis in Nungua in Accra in return for submitting one’s voter's ID card.

NPP Communications Director, Nana Akomea, called the practice “strange”.

Nana Akomea

“In many of these reports, a temporary makeshift office is erected under a tree for the purpose of receiving the Voters' ID cards. In the absence of any tangible explanation, the NPP urges voters to refuse any request from any quarters to submit their Voters' ID cards”.

“The NPP strongly advises voters that they may be disenfranchised or lose the right to vote if they give out their ID cards”, the statement further claimed.

Nana Akomea told Joy News Tuesday that “if anybody is asking for your card for jobs, loans, fertilizers, you have to be careful”.

He fell short of pointing accusing fingers at the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) but said is party was making a “speculative connection” to a plot.

But NDC National Organiser Kofi Adams is unimpressed by what he says is an “NPP speciality” to cry wolf.

“We should just not waste our time on some of these things,” he said on Top Story with Evans Mensah. Kofi Adams said it was NPP firebrand Kennedy Agyapong who first claimed that the NPP was rather collecting voters I.D cards in the Western and Volta regions.

He said he was a panelist with Kennedy Agyapong when the NPP MP made the claim during a live radio discussion.

He said he found it difficult to understand the so-called plot because even without a voter’s ID card, a person could still cast a ballot because he can be verified on the biometric register once he can mention a few details.

Kofi Adams

Kofi Adams also said any Ghanaian in need of replacement of a voter’s I.D card can walk into a District office and request for a new one.

He condemned the NPP of being fleet footed in rushing to the media only to make empty accusation at government.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|posted by EA