The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti Region has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of sending police on a wild goose chase to divert attention from President John Mahama’s commissioning of the first phase of the Kumasi Kejetia Market.
This follows the confiscation of purported thump-printed ballot papers which have since been confirmed as fake by the Electoral Commission (EC).
The NDC believes the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has been misleading the police and called for him to be invited for questioning by police.
Earlier on Monday, reports emerged that Police in Kumasi had taken possession of three bags stuffed with materials reported to be thumb-printed presidential ballot papers found at the Madison Hotel at TUC in the Ashanti Regional capital.
Some of the retrieved ballot papers had thumb prints for the NDC Flagbearer, President John Mahama with the rest unmarked.
The NDC in a statement signed by Raymond Tandoh, its Ashanti Regional Secretary, recounted that at 6:00am on Monday morning, Chairman Wontumi called the media to join him and some Police officers for a raid at the Madison Lodge.
Upon arrival at the Lodge, they directed all occupants to come out of their rooms for a search, which they complied. They were led subsequently by Wontumi into a particular room where some bags containing thumb printed ballots were kept.
“Shockingly, per the Lodge’s records, the occupant checked out without any viable personal records to help investigations,” the NDC noted in the statement.
According to the party, this leaves Wontumi as the only credible primary source of information and thus, he must be invited to help further investigations.
The NDC also questioned why did the hotel, as conventionally practised, chose not to record personal details of the guest and thus called for the arrest of the owner of the hotel.
But, the party maintained that the whole situation was “a deliberate creation of the NPP to divert attention from the President’s commissioning of the first phase of the Kumasi Kejetia Market and sod cutting for phase 2 expansion of the Kumasi International Airport slated for today, December 5, 2016.”
Find below the full statement
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS, ASHANTI REGIONAL CHAPTER
PRESS RELEASE
DECEMBER 5, 2016
THE PARTY’S POSITION ON CLAIMS OF DISCOVERY OF THUMB PRINTED BALLOT PAPERS AT THE MADISON LODGE, TUC, KUMASI
It has come to our attention this morning about an alleged discovery of thumb printed ballot sheets in a room at the Madison Lodge, TUC, Kumasi.
It is worthy to state the following facts;
For the past three days, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Wontumi has misled the media and police in a wild goose chase of large cache of ammunitions and thumb printed ballot papers across the region, from an initial false claim of an impounded ammunition by the military in Kumasi, to the search of house numbered AS2015S at Asouyeboa for weapons and ended with another in Tanoso yesterday.
At 6:00am this morning, Wontumi called the media to join him and some Police officers for a raid at the Madison Lodge, TUC, Kumasi.
Upon arrival at the Lodge, they directed all occupants to come out of their rooms for a search, which they complied.
They were led subsequently by Wontumi into a particular room where some bags containing thumb printed ballots were kept.
Shockingly, per the Lodge’s records, the occupant checked out without any viable personal records to help investigations.
This leaves Wontumi as the only credible primary source of information.
The receptionist currently is with the Police for further questioning but with an initial denial of any knowledge of the said ballots and the identity of the guest.
With the above, we have come to the following conclusions;
Wontumi as the primary source of information must be invited to help further investigations.
Why did the hotel, as conventionally practiced chose not to record personal details of the guest.
We therefore call on the Police to immediately arrest the owner of the Lodge to aid investigations. But we have strong convictions that this is just a deliberate creation of the NPP to divert attention from the President’s commissioning of the first phase of the Kumasi Kejetia Market and sod cutting for phase 2 expansion of the Kumasi International Airport slated for today, December 5, 2016.
We urge all our members to remain calm even as we work with the Police to unravel this evil mystery.
……Signed……
Raymond Tandoh
Ashanti Regional Secretary
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
