Kumasi: ‘No Validation No Registration’ ‘Baamuyadda’ demonstration to hit streets

THE NEW Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated emphatically that any attempt by the Electoral Commission (EC) to replace the validation of the voters’ register with voter exhibition exercise, will incur the wrath of the NPP.
According to the NPP, validation exercise, which is geared towards cleaning dead persons and all unwanted date from the voters’ register, is totally different from voter exhibition exercise, so the EC should take note. The largest opposition political party has consequently charged the EC to carry out the validation of the voters’ register as suggested by the ECs panel of experts, before they (EC) organize the voter exhibition.

Bernard Antwi Boasiako aka ‘Wontumi,’ the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, who spoke on behalf of the party during a press conference on Tuesday, said the EC doesn’t want to embark on the validation exercise to clean the voters’ register.

He announced that the NPP and its allies, would organize a mammoth demonstration dubbed ‘Baamuyadda’ to wit ‘We shall not agree” across the streets of Kumasi on April 6, this year, to drum home their fury against the EC’s bad deeds. Wontumi, with a grim face, stated that the electoral body, especially Charlotte Osei, the EC Head, is in bed with the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) so she wants to forgo the validation exercise to help the NDC to retain power.

He appealed to chiefs, businessmen, students, traders, drivers, nurses, engineers, and medical doctors to wear red and black attire and take part in the demonstration, which would be used to expose the rots in the EC. Wontumi stated that the validation of the voters’ register is non-negotiable so the EC must stop the delay tactics by conducting the important exercise in order to make the voters’ register clean.

The NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Asawase, Alhaji Alidu Seidu, stated that the NPP would not allow the EC to twist the hands of the party to make the NDC win the 2016 polls on a silver platter, stressing that the validation exercise must come on to ensure peace.

 According to him, the current voters’ register is bloated and it is only through validation exercise that the voters’ register could be cleaned; therefore the EC must do the right thing to make the impending polls free and fair.

David Asante of Let My Vote Count Alliance, on his part, observed with concern that the EC was leading the country into chaos by its (EC) unprofessional conduct, charging the EC to conduct the validation of the voters’ register with immediate effect to ensure peace.

 He also stated that the validation exercise is different from the exhibition exercise therefore it is not right for the EC to replace the validation exercise with exhibition exercise, noting that the EC’s intended plan to help the NDC win the polls would be resisted.