Ballot box-stuffing claim: 'Tribalistic', 'drowned' NDC now crying to Ewes with lies to rescue 'sinking campaign' – Abdul-Hamid

The opposition National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) last-minute cry to Ewes to rescue it in the ongoing general elections, betrays the extent of its tribalistic nature, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said.

At a press conference some two hours to the end of Monday’s polls, the NDC’s Director of Elections, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, made a clarion call in his native Ewe language to the people of the Volta Region, in which he urged them come out and vote to deliver the country from President Nana Akufo-Addo, who he likened to King Agokorli.

Mr Afriyie Ankrah made the call to the Voltarians after accusing the NPP of ballot box-stuffing in the Ashanti and Greater Accra Regions.

In a sharp counter-press conference to respond to the allegations, the NPP’s Deputy Campaign Manager, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said: “I am telling you that there is no ballot box-stuffing, no ballot box-stuffing has gone on anywhere”.

“The NDC is either delusional or they are seeking to save face of the imminent defeat that faces them. You don’t call a press conference at the last minute hoping that you use one hour to rescue your sinking campaign and being tribalistic about it, speaking to Ewe people and saying that Ewe people should rescue your party? This is disgusting.

“You’ve been tribalistic, divisional all this while and you are perpetuating such division even to polling day”, the Minister of Zongo and Inner-city Development, said.

He continued: “If you are winning an election, how are you seeking to discredit an election that you are winning? They’ve shown some fake ballots that they claim – and mind my language and mind their language as well – they say that these ballots are ballots that were stuffed in ballot boxes. Now, the voting is still ongoing, ballot boxes have not been opened for counting, how did the NDC manage to find, dip their hands in ballot boxes to remove ballot papers that were not supposed to be in those ballot boxes?”

“It is very clear that two things are involved: either they themselves have involved themselves in ballot box-stuffing and, therefore, are seeking to throw dust into the eyes of the Ghanaian public by lying between their teeth that they have discovered some ballots that are foreign to the ballots that we are supposed to be using for this election.

“They have found nothing. You saw what they claim to be videos of those so-called ballots that have been stuffed in ballot boxes, first of all there is no authenticity, they claim that they would show you EC marks, they did not show you EC marks, the thing was blur, nobody saw; the ink that was on it was very different; many of us have gone and voted and we know the ink of the EC and we see that these are different inks and so on and so forth.

“Then they take advantage of that and Elvis Afriyie Ankrah speaks in Ewe and tells the Volta Region people: ‘Come out and rescue us and vote Nana Addo out’.

“And he says that in Ewe, addressing Volta Region people. Basically campaigning on Election Day because they know that they’ve lost the election and then they say people should come out and go and vote number 2.

“You’ve been campaigning for God knows how long and it has not worked, nobody is listening to you, one hour to the close of polls is when you call a press conference and take advantage to incite people and tell people in the Volta Region to come out and rescue you? How are they supposed to rescue you, are you a Volta Region party?

“I thought that you were a Ghanaian, nationalistic party. Now you are calling on only Voltarians and speaking Ewe to them that they should come and rescue you. You’re drowned. Nobody is going to be able to rescue you where we have reached”, Dr Abdul-Hamid said.

---classfm