Former President John Mahama
Former President John Mahama has said he does not see the reason why the Electoral Commission (EC) is bent on changing the current voters’ register ahead of the 2020 general election.
He said the EC used the register in the 2016 general election which he lost miserably, truncating his second term bid, and insisted it can still be used for the 2020 contest so must not be discarded.
The EC has explained time and again that the biometric voter management system is highly compromised and the results for 2020 general election would be affected if nothing is done about it.
Since the EC took the decision to compile a new register, the budget of which has already been approved by Parliament, the NDC and its allies have not relented in sabotaging the process.
They have been staging demonstrations and used threatening language to incite the public against the EC officials, with the hope that they would abandon the project which many Ghanaians appear to support.
Paying a visit to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Accra on Thursday, the NDC flagbearer raised the issue once again, and appeared to infer that the EC is embarking on a useless venture.
“Data is not something that you discard. When
you have data, it is useful. You keep upgrading and adding up to it. We used
the same register in 2016; it worked perfectly, the President won based on the
same register. Why do you want to change it?” Mr. Mahama asked.
“First it was about the hardware, it was unserviceable and will cost us too
much to replace the hardware. Then next it was about the data itself, there
were too many dead people on the register, etc. You just can’t see where the
argument sits,” he added.
Mr. Mahama said he visited the church as part ongoing consultative meetings his party NDC is holding with various groupings and stakeholders ahead of the 2020 general election.
He was accompanied by National Chairman Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, National Vice Chairperson Sherry Ayittey, MP for Ho West who doubles as Chairman of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, Emmanuel Bedzrah, and other top NDC members.
He was received by the President of the Africa West Area of Latter-Day Saints, Marcus B Nash, assisted by First Counsellor Edward Dube and Second Counsellor Hugo E. Martinez.
By Ernest Kofi Adu