ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
We wish to also make the point that Covid-19 was never part of the reasons for the NDC’s opposition to the new register, because they started their protest against the new register in 2019 when there was no Covid.
And so, it is disingenuous for the NDC to now seek to ground their reason for opposing the new register on Covid.
Indeed, the NDC’s loudest argument in the latter stages was that Ghanaians did not have the Ghana card and so, the EC’s decision to restrict the breeder documents to the Ghana card and passport meant that the Commission intended to disenfranchise Ghanaians.
However, current data from the registration shows clearly that more than 60% of registrants used the Ghana card, 1.9% used passports and 38% used guarantors.
At the end of the exercise, nobody has complained of being disenfranchised for want of documentation.
Clearly, the NDC’s argument was a deliberate ploy to stop the EC from conducting its constitutionally mandated function and they’ve been exposed by events.
And so, despite all their desperate attempts aimed at thwarting the EC’s work and their claims that this whole voter registration exercise speaks to a grand scheme by the Commission to disenfranchise Ghanaians, the Ghanaian people rejected same and came out in their numbers to register.
Registration in border constituencies where the numbers have come down Ladies and gentlemen, a major security imperative for deploying security personnel to our borders is first and foremost the prevention of terrorism.
That is why there is more personnel on the northern border.
Pursuant to the advent of Covid-19, the security duty was enhanced to include the containment measures required against Covid-19.
The NDC had full knowledge of these measures and did not complain.
It is the same deployments that coincidentally , had to be in place to prevent not only illegal entries against Covid-19 but also the influx of non-Ghanaians seeking to be part of the voter registration exercise.
Consequently, there has been some significant reduction in the registration figures in border constituencies which the diagram below speak to: A diagram is shown The NDC’s tribal politics and "hate for vote" campaign Having failed in their desperate attempt to stop the EC from compiling a new voters register, the NDC have, very characteristically, resorted to a dangerous ethnocentric agenda through outright fabrications and fear mongering in what they claimed to be ethnic disenfranchisement.
We are calling on our brothers and sisters of the Volta Region and indeed all Ghanaians to stand up against being used as pawns in this dangerous political chess game by a desperate John Mahama.
Mahama showed very little concern for our brothers and sisters in the Volta Region when he had the opportunity as president to impact their lives.
John Mahama cannot be trusted and we say so by his own record and not just his dangerous words.
In his hate-for-votes campaign, John Mahama falsely accused the military of disallowing “our brothers and sisters in the Volta Region and wherever there are settlements of Voltarians and non-Akans” to register to vote.
This was a big and dangerous lie.
The former president of the Republic, who should know better, had earlier said on 28th June that President Akufo-Addo was sending “troops into regions in times of peace for the sole purpose of preventing them from registration,” and that this amounted to “declaring war.”
These statements were clearly building blocks in his desperate “hate- for-votes” strategy to create needless tension among our peace-loving people.
In any case, how could John Mahama accuse President Akufo-Addo of ethnic discrimination when recently, the President was in the Northern and Savannah Regions to ensure that 1.2 million people there have access to water, including John Mahama’s own maternal hometown of Busunu near Damongo.
John Mahama has no message because Akufo-Addo is working hard to solve the real-life problems that confront the Ghanaian people.
The Ghanaian people should not be misled by John Mahama’s hate-for-votes campaign.
John Mahama has resorted to this old bogus propaganda trick used by empty power hungry tyrants of decades gone-by because he has no policy response to Akufo-Addo’s social interventions and economic policies.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Akufo-Addo has been instrumental in maintaining peace and tranquility throughout the country, including in Dagbon since he came into office.
He will be the last to want to disturb the peace.
We must completely and totally reject Mahama’s hate-for-votes campaign and look at the real facts.
The facts tell us that at the end of the mass registration exercise, the Volta region was among the highest performing regions.
There is also no evidence that there is an eligible registrant in the Volta region or our brothers and sisters of Ewe extraction throughout Ghana who has been denied the opportunity to register.
Please, let us not allow John Mahama to fool us with his hate-for-votes agenda.
As has already been stated, John Mahama’s allegations that many soldiers were deployed to the Volta Region ostensibly to intimidate Voltarians cannot be supported by the facts.
The facts are that the military were deployed months ago to patrol all our borders for a variety of security-related reasons including the prevention of terrorism and the enforcement of Covid-19 containment measures.
The soldiers were not only deployed in our eastern borders but also in the north as well as the Western enclave.
Indeed, the evidence made available by the Defence Ministry and the Ghana Armed Forces clearly shows that more military men were deployed on our northern borders.
The breakdown of the deployment as put out by relevant authorities is as follows: Upper East 206 soldiers, Northern Region 110 soldiers, North East 102 soldiers, Volta Region 98 soldiers, Oti Region 72 soldiers, Upper West 65 soldiers, Bono Region 60 soldiers, Western Region 27 soldiers, Savanna Region 21 soldiers.
So, there have been more military deployments in the Upper East Region; in the Northern Region as well as in the North East Region than in the Volta Region.
If any region should be complaining of heavy military deployment, then it should be the regions in the northern part of the country.
Clearly, the former President is only using this reckless ploy to try to motivate the NDC’s grassroots who have been consistently neglected by his administration in the Volta Region and cower the security agents from doing their legitimate job so that the NDC can employ foul means to populate the register.
We should not confuse the genuine efforts to police the borders throughout the country to mean that the NPP is against anyone.
Elections in Ghana are for Ghanaians.
Yet, as we speak, a number of Togolese and Nigerians have either been convicted or have their cases pending at the Keta circuit court charged with registering for a Ghanaian voter ID card.
Okafor Wale, age 47 years; nationality, Nigerian.
Offence: Registered for Ghana voter ID card when not qualified to register: Convicted and Sentenced to 2years in hard labour by Keta Circuit Court on 30/07/20 Evoda Yao Dieu Donne, age 22 years, nationality Togolese.
Offence : Registered for Ghana voter ID Card when not qualified to register.
Convicted and sentenced to 2 years in hard labour by Keta Circuit Court on 30/07/20 Emmanuel Philip, age 32, nationality Nigerian.
Offence: Register for Ghana Voter ID Card when not qualified.
Case pending before Keta Circuit Court.
Jerry Azameti, age 28 years, nationality, Ghanaian; and 5.
Abigail Tagbor age 20 years Ghanaian.
Offence: the two abetted Emmanuel Philip a Nigerian who is not qualified to register to register for Ghana voter ID Card by standing as guarantors.
Ekoume Sena, age 32 years, Togolese.
Offence: Register for Ghana Voter ID Card when not qualified to register.
Ametame Raymond, age 33 years,Togolese.
Offence: Register for Ghana voter ID Card when not qualified to register.
The arrest of sixty six Ivorian nationals last week The arrest yesterday of 12 Nigerians currently in custody at the Kotobabi police station in Accra, allegedly brought in to register by the NDC MP for the area.
Ladies and gentlemen, we love all our brothers and sisters of West Africa, but they cannot vote in our elections as we cannot vote in theirs.
We expect mutual respect for national sovereignty with our dear neighbors.
NDC’S facilitation of non-Ghanaians to register and vote in our elections As clearly established by the VCRAC Crabbe Committee and by the Supreme Court of Ghana during the election petition, one of the main reasons accounting for the bloated nature of the register is the names of non-Ghanaians, particularly our West African neighbors, on the register.
This, we contend, is the handiwork of the NDC based on their conduct in all registration exercises conducted by the EC.
And indeed, developments at the just ended 2020 mass registration exercise yet again showed the NDC’s usual desperation to get foreigners on our voters register.
The media is awash with videos showing some foreigners being imported by the NDC into the country to participate in the voter registration exercise.
Acts of violence at various polling stations, encouraged by the NDC Ladies and Gentlemen, the NDC, in their usual fashion, continued with their acts of violence against innocent Ghanaians and on members of the NPP during the registration exercise.
You would recall that John Mahama is on record as having told Ghanaians that when it comes to violence, no political party in the country can match the NDC.
It is thus not surprising that during this mass registration, the NDC hooligans were again at their best visiting mayhem on our people.
NDC OPPOSES THE REGISTRATION OF STUDENTS The NDC, you will recall, recently went to the high court to challenge the EC’s decision to provide an opportunity for SHS students to register during the mass registration exercise.
Yet, they were the same people alleging that this whole voter registration is an attempt to deny eligible Ghanaians their constitutional right to vote in the December 2020 elections following the removal of the old voters ID card from the voter registration requirements.
They claimed the EC, by this decision, was going to disenfranchise many eligible Ghanaians from registering and therefore sought the court’s intervention.
Ladies and gentlemen, isn’t it interesting that the same NDC which claimed it was defending people’s constitutional right to register and vote, is today, back in court arguing that the court should intervene and stop the EC from registering eligible Ghanaian voters in our Senior High Schools.
So we ask, is the NDC in support of the right of eligible Ghanaians to register and vote, or they are against it?
The right to vote as enshrined in Article 42 of the Constitution, does not preclude students in Senior High Schools from registering, provided they are 18 and above.
Well, I just hope free SHS has nothing to do with this manifest absurdity of our NDC friends.
And please, do not be deceived by the NDC’s argument that the registration centres at the Senior High Schools have not been gazetted hence their opposition.
First of all, the EC was not created any new centres from the centres that were gazetted.
The current legal regime allows the EC to use mobile registration vans and accompanying devises to register eligible voters and assign them to the closest polling station.
The Commission has in fact been using this mobile registration vans across the country since the exercise began on 30th June.
So, what the EC proposed to do on Friday (10th July) and Saturday (11th July) subject to possible extension where necessary, was to move these mobile registration vans and the accompanying devices to the Senior High Schools to register the final year students who have turned 18 and beyond.
This is because per the current executive instrument on Covid-19 restrictions, the students cannot leave campus and go to town queuing to register.
Meanwhile, these eligible students have a constitutional right to register and vote, which right cannot be denied under any circumstances.
Mind you, out of the about 700 Senior High Schools in the country, over 280 of them are already registration centres which were duly gazetted, hence will not be captured under this special arrangement.
And this is what the NDC is kicking against?
So, what at all is the alternative?
Clearly, the alternative being proposed by the NDC was the SHS students should be disenfranchised.
We are sure the students will be guided by this accordingly.
Conclusion Happily, ladies and gentlemen, in a reported facebook live session held on tour in Kete Krachie, the leader of the NDC, John Mahama, having initially bastardized the voter registration, has now conceded that the exercise has been successful.
So, we, in the NPP expect him to apologise to the nation for the dangerous ethnic sentiments he raised, jeopardizing the security of the state with unwarranted attacks.
His actions which were mirrored by the leadership of his party unduly created fear and raised political tension in the country.
Certainly, Ghanaians didn’t deserve this from an immediate past President of this great country who is again seeking the mandate.
The NPP will continue to work hard to meet the needs of Ghanaians.
The times demand strong and decisive leadership on the issues that have impacted our lives.
It is in pursuit of our stated goals that we have not only strengthened the economy but have also managed to provide social and economic support in terms of cost-free water and electricity as well as business-support schemes.
The NPP vision of the way forward captured in our manifesto 2020 will hopefully be shared with Ghanaians on the 22 of August 2020.
We ask you to look forward on that day to heartwarming policies detailing how, with your support, we will transform Ghana for the benefit of all.
Your NPP government remains focused and expect a massive turnout on December 7 to consolidate the leadership and good governance offered by His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
We thank all Ghanaians sincerely for rejecting the hate filled divisive non policy based rhetoric of Candidate Mahama.
You demonstrated this rejection with the massive turnout for the voter registration exercise.
Confirm it even more with a decisive vote against the politics of division come December 7, 2020.
When this is added to the registered Voters, the overall total is a little over 17.6million.
THE EC’S CASE FOR A NEW REGISTER Even so, the E.C has also argued, that the decision to compile a new register in 2020 was largely driven by technical and financial considerations.
THE NDC’s OPPOSITION TO THE NEW REGISTER COMPILATION Despite the fact that the EC had demonstrated enough utility and justification for the adoption of a new Biometric Voter Management Solution to deal with the many challenges with the old system, the NDC, continued to stage strong protests against the commission’s move and were bent on thwarting the EC's efforts.
Assalamu alaikum Assalamu alaikum
Friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen, the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is pleased to have you in attendance for this press conference despite the short notice.
Ordinarily, given the demanding nature of our national campaign, the New Patriotic Party would have ignored the NDC for yet again, another needless demonstration in their desperate attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill regarding the Provisional Voters Register for the 2024 general elections.
However, as the governing Party in Ghana, the NPP is a major stakeholder for all election related matters and cannot be silent on issues pertaining the 2024 provisional register.
Even more so, the NPP’s position on the subject matter has become necessary following an open invitation from the NDC for our opinion.
In a post made on his Facebook wall on September 6, 2024, Dr Omane Boamah, Director of Elections for the NDC, questioned the loud silence of the ruling NPP on the alleged discrepancies with the provisional register and insinuated that we stand to benefit from the manipulation of the register and electoral processes.
In view of the above, the NPP, as an important and legitimate stakeholder of election-related matters in Ghana, has every right to share its opinion on the 2024 provisional voters’ register.
Background As many of us are already aware, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, embarked on a nationwide demonstration against the Electoral Commission on what they have termed as alarming irregularities, discrepancies and unauthorized manipulation of the Provisional Voters’ Register for the 2024 general elections.
It is worthy of note that before their demonstration, the Electoral Commission granted a stakeholder meeting with the NDC on Friday September 6, 2024, after the NDC had requested for a meeting in a letter dated August 27, 2024.
The meeting accorded the NDC an opportunity to present their concerns of alleged discrepancies regarding the 2024 Provisional Voters’ Register to the EC.
It is also public knowledge that during the said meeting with the Electoral Commission, the NDC indicated that they had identified five issues with the Provisional Voters’ Register, details of which include; missing names and photos of registered voters, misplaced voter transfers, deleted names of registered voters, unidentified voter transfer paths and unauthorized voter transfers.
On the basis of the above concerns regarding the provisional register, the NDC implored the Electoral Commission to accept an Independent Forensic Audit of the provisional register and re-exhibit same.
Ladies and gentlemen, we can also not run from the fact that during the September 6, 2024 meeting, the EC requested the NDC to furnish it with details of all the discrepancies it had identified.
Till date, the NDC is yet to submit such information to the EC.
Demands by the NDC Friends from the media, during the September 6, 2024 meeting with the EC and as detailed in their petition to the Commission on September 17, 2024, the NDC, on the basis of their own established discrepancies with the provisional register, is demanding that the Electoral Commission does the following: (a) Permit an Independent Forensic Audit of the Voters Register and its IT System (b) Convene Stakeholders Meeting (c) Agree to Publish the Findings of the Forensic Audit (d) Re-exhibit the Register after the Forensic Audit (e) Review and Correct all Unauthorized Transfers (f) Adopt a Revised Timeline for Electoral Activities and, (g) Institute Accountability and Integrity Measures.
Position of the NPP Friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen, we in the NPP would be hypocrites to suggest that the NDC acted wrongly by engaging the EC with their concerns pertaining the 2024 provisional register and other matters of electoral concern.
Historically, the NPP has been known for being lead advocates and crusaders for most of the electoral reforms that have positively shaped our nation’s democracy.
From campaigning against the use of opaque ballot boxes to demanding the introduction of voter identification cards with pictures, and the usage of biometric verification devices, the NPP has always been at the center and front of advocacies that seek to guarantee free, fair and transparent elections.
However, what many Ghanaians and the NPP cannot comprehend, is why the NDC has still not submitted to the EC, detailed information of its so-called irregularities, discrepancies and unauthorised manipulation of the provisional register despite several appeals by the E.C.
For instance, in Page 2 of their petition to the EC, the NDC stated emphatically that they have uncovered evidence of Two Hundred and Forty-Three Thousand, Five Hundred and Forty (243,540) illegal transfers, Three Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty-Seven (3,957) deleted names of voters, as well as over Fifteen Thousand unidentified voter transfer paths in the provisional register.
Yet, thirteen days after the NDC first met the EC on September 6, 2024, they have still not provided a single document to authenticate any of these allegations.
We ask, is this not interesting?
Indeed, if the NDC have any evidence of illegal transfers, why have they not submitted evidence for such an illegality to be reversed by the EC?
We believe strongly that the nationwide demonstration by the NDC would have been justified had the EC failed to act after receiving evidence from the NDC on the alleged irregularities and discrepancies.
As many of you will attest to, the NDC has a despicable reputation of throwing allegations around without any substantive evidence.
It should be recalled that following the close of polls for the 2020 general elections, the NDC through several media engagements, declared former President Mahama winner (video attached) and in some instances, warned the EC not to change the verdict of the people.
After the EC’s official declaration of the results, the NDC suddenly alleged rigging, and urged their supporters to demonstrate on the streets and also refrain from recognizing President Akufo-Addo as winner of the elections.
Some of the demonstrations as we witnessed, nearly turned bloody, as their hoodwinked supporters assaulted security personnel and innocent Ghanaians with various harmful objects.
As fate would have it, when the NDC finally had their day in court, their current National Chairman who was at the time, General Secretary of the Party, could not tell the Supreme Court the total votes that were amassed by the NDC and the total valid votes that were cast during the elections (video attached).
It even becomes more interesting with revelations that were made by Mr.
Asiedu Nketiah during his campaign for election as National Chairman of the NDC in 2022, when he boldly told a gathering of his Party supporters that the NDC’s own collated results for the 2020 general elections would have disgraced the Party in court, the reason he lied to Justices of the Supreme Court that he could not furnish them with figures of the Party’s collated results (video attached).
It is obvious from Asiedu Nketiah’s own admission that the NDC knew from their own collated results that they had lost the 2020 elections.
Friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen, it is obvious that we have allowed the NDC to get away with so many lies and deceptions.
Lies that nearly tarnished our enviable democratic credentials in 2020 and in some instances, threatened the peace and security of our dear republic.
Undoubtedly, recent outbursts by the NDC regarding the provisional voters’ register is just another grand old NDC strategy of lies and deception to court public sympathy and support in an election year.
We are cautioning the public to be aware of the NDC’s crafted false narrative of an opposition Party being cheated by a state-controlled electoral body.
We are challenging the NDC to submit not only to the EC but the media and general public, their so-called evidence of alarming irregularities, discrepancies and manipulation of the provisional register.
As remarked by the Justice V.C.R.A.C.
Crabbe led Panel on the Biometric Voters Register, which was constituted by the E.C.
in 2015, ‘‘the veracity of the Register of Voters depends on the honesty of all citizens of Ghana’’.
At least, for once in our lifetime, the NDC must be honest with Ghanaians.
The NPP finds it difficult to comprehend the call by the NDC for an independent forensic audit of the provisional register for the 2024 general elections on the basis of alleged errors and discrepancies.
Ladies and gentlemen, in addressing a critical matter of this nature, the law and history must always serve as a guide.
The Constitutional Instrument on the Registration of Voter, C.I.
91 as amended by C.I.
127, anticipated such errors and made provisions for remedying any such occurrence.
For emphasis, C.I.