NDC accuses NPP of engaging in violence dress rehersal ahead of election 2024 …but Afenyo Markins parries claim
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has stressed the need for the Electoral Commission (EC) to put rigorous measures in place to reduce incidents of violence during the upcoming general elections.
According to the political party, the lack of trust in electoral processes have the tendency of causing disturbances which could lead to lose of lives and mistrust in the outcome of elections.
Addressing a press briefing in Accra on Monday, National Chairman for the NDC Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia stated that the dastardly “murder of eight Ghanaians” during the 2020 general elections must not be repeated this year.
“We will not rest until we ensure every single Ghanaian is protected and we expect our offices to be inundated with invitations to participate in events and activities to promote peaceful elections.”
“We urge traditional authorities, CSOs and religious leaders to add their collective voices to our call for state institutions involved in the conduct of the 2024 general elections to approach their duties with professionalism, fairness and honesty,” he added.
The NDC he said would not sit unconcerned for a repeat of the violent occurrences in the 2020 general elections, adding that no power can defeat an organised and determined people struggling for freedom.
Mr Nketia reitrated the NDC’s stance on the decision of the EC not to use indelible ink during the elections, adding that the discontinuation of the use of indelible ink in Ghana’s elections at this stage could open the flood gate for nefarious activities that would compromise the integrity of the elections.
“The NDC is diametrically opposed to the EC’s decision not to use indelible ink during the voting process. We are all aware of the many unanswered questions about the integrity of the voters register too which is a cause for worry because in an event of a malfunction of the BVD, if a voter attempts to vote twice or more, the surest and quickest way to identify such a criminal is the stain of indelible ink on the finger,” he stressed.
Touching on issues of shortage of ballot papers, the politician noted that it was worrying that ballot paper shortages affected the just ended district level elections across the country with wide spread incidence of printing errors in some electoral areas.
This, he said led to the rescheduling of elections, disenfranchising many voters.
He hoped that this was not a deliberate attempt at voter suppression.
He therefore urged the EC to ensure the avoidance of any shortage of electoral materials come December 7.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has dismissed allegation by the opposition NDC that he orchestrated violence at a polling station in the just ended district level election in his Effutu Constituency.
The NDC Chairman, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, at a press conference in Accra on Monday, said “in a dress rehearsal to perpetuate violence in the December 7 general elections, agents of the governing New Patriotic Party terrorised electorates at some polling stations including one in Mr Afenyo-Markin’s Constituency.”
But the Deputy Majority Leader said the claims were false, baseless and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.
He suspects that the unsubstantiated claim by the NDC is a deliberate attempt to prepare the grounds for electoral violence in the December polls, a plot he said would be foiled.
“In Effutu, I do my politics on the strength of development. I do not engage in politics of violence. I don’t attack and I don’t insult. I believe in the open discourse of ideas and that has been the reason why I remain the MP.
“There is transformation in Effutu under my leadership and that cannot be disputed.
“So I will not allow Mr Asiedu Nketia and his NDC who have lost the political plot and do not know how to manage my success in Effutu to brand me.
“I am not into electoral violence because I don’t believe in it. I have always won and won clean,” he stated.
On the contrary, he said it was the NDC activists in the area who intended to mar the assembly elections but for the intervention of the police.
He recounted how he has been at the receiving end of the NDC’s “violent politicking” in previous elections to which records abound at the Winneba police to bear him out.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said his rise in politics was meritorious having served as an assembly man two terms, a presiding member before becoming an MP in 2013.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI & RAISSA SAMBOU
