A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Communication Team, Saaka Salia, has taken a swipe at the National Democratic Congress (NDC), stating that the NDC has a penchant for taking the Electoral Commission (EC) to the cleaners even on flimsy issues.
According to Mr. Salia, the election management body, just like any other institution, is not immune to challenges.
The NDC has instructed all its party agents at the various registration centres to record the serial numbers of every Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kit in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
Moreover, the party has asked the EC to furnish it with the serial numbers of all the missing BVRs, as the Commission reported.
But the EC, in a statement on Thursday, May 9, denied the opposition party’s request, raising security concerns.
The party Chairman, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, addressing a news conference on the issue in Accra, said, “Our agents also have our firm instructions that if BVR kits malfunction and are replaced during registration, they should duly record the serial numbers of the new BVR kits and the date and time of use.”
However, Sakaa Salia, speaking on TV3’s New Day on Friday, maintained that the EC has done nothing untoward but that the NDC deliberately seeks to create disaffection towards the Commission.
Due to technical challenges, the Commission, in a statement on Wednesday, directed all its District Officers to switch to offline mode on May 9 to fast-track the registration process.
Also, the Commission assured stakeholders that should there be a backlog of voters at the end of the 21-day process, the registration exercise will be extended beyond the May 27, 2024, deadline.
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“The Electoral Commission came out with a statement to explain the reason for the mishaps and the movement from online registration to offline registration, which we all believe is making the process faster. So actually they are learning and some of these problems are not things we can say are deliberate…internet connectivity problem is beyond the electoral commission.
“What the electoral commission can do is to put in place plan B so that when the internet is not working…that is where this offline registration comes in handy and I think that they are equally doing whatever it takes to ensure that the registration is done. I will always give the electoral commission the benefit of the doubt.”
“I can see that our brothers in the NDC have the penchant or that proclivity to always lambast, to always take the electoral commission to the cleaners, even on most flimsy issues,” Mr. Salia stated.
