The Electoral Commission (EC) has condemned the decision by two of its officials to send a voters’ register and verification machine to the residence of Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, running mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Flagbearer, Nana Akufo Addo.
According to the Deputy Director of Communication at the Commission, Yusif Alhassan, the officers violated the Commission’s rules by verifying Dr. Bawumia at his residence.
“At no point should you go to anybody’s house to verify the person or let the person check his or her name so based on this the people were relieved of their duties and a new set of team was appointed. As at close of day yesterday, the Regional Directorate had received a report from the Supervisor so they are studying it and they will send a team on the ground to do further investigations and a report will be submitted to the Electoral Commission.”
“The rule if very clear; you are supposed to stay at the exhibition centre, you are not supposed to move to anybody’s home or any other place except you are sitting at the centre to be verified,”Yusif Alhassan argued on The Big Issue.
He also confirmed that the two had been sacked for violating the Commission’s terms of agreement.
NPP responds
Meanwhile the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described as false claims that Dr. Bawumia asked the officers to verify him at residence.
“The latest attempt the NDC has rolled out is a totally false claim, bordering on hallucinations, that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia got Electoral Commission officers at the Kperiga Polling Centre to come and verify his details in the Voters’ Register, at his family residence. This we wish to state emphatically is false. This is the true sequence of events,” the NPP said in a statement.
The party in its statement further outlined what it viewed to be “the true sequence of events” that took place on Tuesday as follows:
- On Sunday 24th, 2016 (not Wednesday 27th as the NDC has falsely claimed), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia attended the funeral of the late Nasia Chief in Nalerigu and returned to Walewale around 5pm.
- Not long after Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia went to his family home, he was informed that the EC Officers had come to verify him (Dr. Bawumia) at home since the clouds had gathered and it was likely it could start raining soon.
- Dr. MahamuduBawumia however, declined this offer and rather decided to proceed to the Polling Centre, which is outside the family house (very close). When Dr.Bawumia came out of his family house to get verified, he met the two EC officers moving to seek shelter since the clouds had gotten darker. Dr. MahamuduBawumia was therefore verified where he met the officers – just adjacent to where the Polling Centre had been set up and not in his residence; not even by its gate.
-citifmonline