The Ashanti regional branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has given the Electoral Commission (EC) a 48-hour ultimatum to update its officially published figures of total registered eligible voters during Phase One of the ongoing Voters Registration exercise in the Ashanti region to reflect the accurate data.
According to the NDC, instead of a figure of 393,000 captured qualified voters from June 30 to the 5th of this month, the EC has rather published 423,000 as the registered voters during the period which is about 30,000 more than the real figure.
The Regional Secretary of the party, Kwame Zu, who made this known in Kumasi at a media briefing, noted that the concerned District as well as the Regional Directors of the EC have admitted to the wrong data and attributed the problem to Data Entry Error but the Commission has after five days of notification, failed to publish the correct figure.
The Regional NDC Secretary mentioned in particular Offinso North, where the actual registered voters registered was allegedly changed from 7,869 to 26,886 with similar occurrences in the Afigya Sekyere East, Juaben and the Afigya Kwabre North Constituencies.
Touching on other issues relating to the registration exercise in the Ashanti region, Mr. Zu gave the Regional Police Command a 72-hour ultimatum to arrest assailants who physically attacked the incumbent MP for Ejura, Alhaji Muhammed Bawa Braimah on the 6th of this month (July) at Nkwanta leading to him sustaining serious injuries.
He noted that the assailants, numbering more than 10 have been identified and reported to the Ejura Municipal, Mampong Divisional and Ashanti Regional Police Commanders but no action has been taken so far.
The NDC’s Regional Secretary also warned against an alleged suppression of registration numbers in known strongholds of the party through various tactics such as slow or malfunctioning of the Biometric Registration kits, late start of the exercise as well as the use of both the Police and soldiers not only to harass but also intimidate eligible voters perceived to be NDC sympathizers from registering for the Voters Identification Cards for the December 7 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
The Regional Secretary warned the EC and security operatives not to take for granted the NDC’s commitment to a peaceful society but ensure fairness and objectivity in the performance of their responsibilities in the registration process.
