Mahama ‘Bomb’ Flattens NPP’s Gabby

Former President and National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, last week shattered, what has been described as, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) political bigotry targeted at NDC strongholds and specific constituencies in the Volta Region and the newly created Oti Region.

Key to the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government’s agenda of pushing the Jean Mensah-led Electoral Commission (EC) to compile a new voters register for the 2020 elections at all cost, is the ruling party’s make-believe that the Volta electoral roll is full of names of Togolese and other unqualified persons.

Reemphasising this long-held prejudice obviously in strengthening NPP’s demand for a new voters register, Mr Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, one of the most powerful personalities in President Akufo-Addo’s inner circles, last week tweeted: “Out of the 275 constituencies, Ketu South is the most populous constituency in Ghana in terms of the number of names on the electoral roll. How and why? Discuss…”

About two hours later, Gabby followed with a second tweet: “Ketu South constituency has 149, 219 registered voters. Dome Kwabenya follows with 144, 624 registered voters, with Ledzokuku, 142, 995 and the Ablekuma Central, 137, 154.” Discuss the economic and/or social activities which give Ketu South the largest electoral roll in Ghana.”

But in what people say is a direct response to Gabby’s comment, and perhaps the juggernaut that would settle the matter once and for all, former President Mahama, in a counter tweet had this to say: “It can become a frustrating psychosis when you are unable to correctly predict the winning ticket of your opponent.”

In a recent Facebook post, former Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has stated that the obsession of the EC and President Akufo-Addo to compile a new voters register for the 2020 elections is targeted at some NDC constituencies in the Volta Region to satisfy the bigotry of the NPP.

“President Akufo-Addo and the NPP’s obsession with compiling a new voters register through their hatchet men at the Electoral Commission is the product of bigotry and utter disrespect for sections of our population” he indicated, adding that “It stems from a misguided belief that those who vote for the NDC in the Volta Region are mostly Togolese and they must, therefore, be excluded from the Electoral roll. That claim is a lie cooked from the very pits of hell and one which the NPP has failed to offer a shred of evidence for.”

Mr Kwakye Ofosu said “It is the reason why they have deliberately made it cumbersome and frustrating for people from there and other NDC strongholds to register with the exclusion of the voter ID cards from the primary requirements for registration.”

“To do that, they prioritised their strongholds during the Ghana card registration process and sent more equipment than was required there when they failed to do same for regions where the NDC is strong,” he explained further, indicating that “The object is to have a register that permanently disadvantages the NDC in every election for as long as Jean Mensah and Bossman Asare rule the roost at the EC.”

He said allowing people to guarantee for others is a circuitous route intended to discourage as many people as possible from registering.

“It is in fact absurd that word of mouth is considered more credible than actual identification issued by the Electoral Commission itself and which they have used to conduct a number of elections since the overly partisan Jean Mensah and Bossman Asare took the reins.

He also pointed out that “For those afflicted by philistinism and who are unable to see this macabre attempt to rig elections ab initio, don’t expect a statement from the President saying he will rig elections. Just follow the train of events and the fact that both the NPP and the EC have been woeful in justifying this plot.”

It would be recalled that in the run-up to the 2016 elections, NPP running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, alleged that there were 1.5 million Togolese names on the list of voters from the Volta region on Ghana’s voters' register. Dr Bawumia made the unsubstantiated allegation under the auspices of NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo and the party’s leadership at a press conference.

On August 15, 2015, a Reuters report had it that “Ghana’s main opposition party [NPP] asked the electoral commission on Tuesday to create a new voters’ register before next year’s election…The New Patriotic Party (NPP) said it had overwhelming evidence that the electoral roll used for polls in 2012 was bloated with ineligible voters, including the names of Togolese nationals.”

The report went on to explain that “Togo is home to the Ewe ethnic group that is also found in southeastern Ghana, where its members are regarded as strong supporters of President John Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC).”

It also quoted Bawumia as saying, “The voters’ register is incurably flawed and cannot be relied on for the 2016 elections. This morning we presented our arguments and evidence on this matter to the electoral commission. The evidence is damning and shows that Ghana’s voter's register has been compromised. The new register should be created by June next year and be independently audited by an internationally reputable firm ahead of December’s election.”

The NPP and Dr Bawumia, however, failed to show evidence of the allegation when required to do so by the Charlotte Osei-led EC. The allegation was considered by many as a deliberate attack on people from the Volta Region. Some have said that even though the allegation came out of Bawumia’s mouth, he was only the hatchet man for the NPP tribal bigots who believe Voltarians are not Ghanaians.

By Desmond Darko