With some 12 hours to go for a crucial election in Ghana, the biggest opposition party is making damning allegations against the governing party and other statutory institutions include the Electoral Commission and the Ghana Military.
According to the NPP campaign chairman, Peter Mac Manu, the party has picked up information that the governing NDC in collusion with officers of the Electoral Commission have printed 600,000 voter IDs which have been distributed to NDC supporters across the country.
These fake ID card holders, Mac Manu, claims will be allowed to use a manual verification process instead of the biometric machines before voting tomorrow.
He explained part of the motive is to frustrate voters in the queue who are ready to vote but do not readily have their ID cards with them, adding the fake ID card holders would rather be given preferential treatment at the polling station.
Even more damning is the allegation against the police and the military high command.
According to Peter Mac Manu, de-commissioned rifles have been given out to cadres who have passed out as police men to intimidate voters at the various polling stations.
He claimed over 250 of such rifles have been deployed to Tamale where two people are reported dead in clashes between NPP and NDC supporters in Chereponi. He feared some of these rifles might end up in the wrong hands.
The NPP campaign chairman wondered what the de-commissioned rifles will doing at the polling stations except to harass and intimidate voters at the various stations.
He also challenged the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Defence Staff to deny the allegations.
Peter Mac Manu dismissed criticisms that the allegation will cast the police in bad light.
“It is proper to put them in bad light,” he said, adding, why are you giving decommissioned weapons to cadres who passed out?” he asked.
In a rebuttal, the National Coordinator of the NDC Kofi Adams said the allegation by the NPP is false.
He wondered why new voter ID cards will be printed to supporters of the NDC when the voter’s register have already been compiled and given to representatives of political parties.
“The NPP must give listeners a modicum of respect; at what point were these persons registered and how are they going to be added to the register given to all parties already have a register,” he stated.
He said the NDC is not interested in printing new IDs but is focused and committed to beating the NPP in the election.
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