The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has intensified its call for an independent forensic audit of Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC), accusing the body of manipulating the voters’ register ahead of the December 7, 2024 elections.
In a statement signed by the Director of Elections and IT, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, the NDC has alleged serious irregularities in the EC’s processes and has demanded immediate action to ensure the integrity of the upcoming elections.
The NDC’s statement, issued on September 13, 2024 claims that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is complicit in supporting an “incompetent and criminally crooked” Electoral Commission, describing the EC headquarters as “a crime scene waiting to be exorcised after the December elections.”
The party criticized the EC for withholding data from a hard drive, which the NDC submitted for a forensic audit of the voters’ register.
The party has questioned why the EC has kept the hard drive in its custody for a week since their last meeting.
“Why is the EC not returning our hard drive which has been in their custody for the past week after our encounter with them last week Friday?
An encounter which they blocked the media from covering,” the statement read.
The NDC identified three core demands from their recent meeting with the EC, which it says remain unaddressed:
An independent forensic audit of the voters’ register. Submission of their findings for the forensic audit. A re-exhibition of the register following the forensic audit.
The NDC insists that the EC’s refusal to accept these demands undermines trust and cooperation between the parties.
The party also highlighted a series of errors in the voters’ register, including the illegal addition of 243,540 previous transfers to the 2024 transfers, unidentifiable voter transfer paths, and missing voter details.
The NDC has called for a public demonstration, dubbed the “Enough Is Enough” rally, set for Tuesday, September 17, to demand greater transparency and accountability from the EC.
The party has also reiterated its demand for a forensic audit to determine the extent of alleged manipulation and ensure a credible electoral process.
The NDC outlined several critical questions they believe a forensic audit would answer, including:
The extent of illegal voter transfers and the systemic vulnerabilities that allowed such actions. The timeliness and accuracy of the provisional voters’ register. The potential impact of identified mistakes on the fairness of the elections. Comparisons with past errors and lessons learned to prevent future issues. A timeline for addressing these issues to ensure a credible register.
The NDC’s statement emphasized the need for a forensic audit as a non-negotiable step to safeguard the credibility of Ghana’s electoral process, urging the EC to cease justifying what it termed as “avoidable errors.”
As Ghana approaches its December 2024 elections, the NDC’s demands and allegations have sparked concerns over the integrity of the electoral process. The party’s insistence on an independent forensic audit highlights the growing tension between political stakeholders and the Electoral Commission, which will need to address these concerns to maintain public trust in the election’s fairness.
The NDC remains firm in its stance that without a transparent and accountable electoral process, the legitimacy of the upcoming elections could be at risk.
Source: classfmonline.com
