Mr Philip Anokye Frimpong, Atiwa East NPP constituency secretary
By Mudasiru Abdul Yakeen
The District Review Committee of the Electoral Commission (EC) in the Atiwa East constituency, of the Eastern Region, has asked the Commission to expunge names of some 31 persons who registered in the area from the electoral register.
This follows the inability of the persons involved to appear before the committee to prove their eligibility after they were challenged during the recently held voters’ registration exercise.
Agents of the governing New Patriotic Party had challenged the eligibility of the 31 to vote in the constituency, leading to the withholding of their ID cards.
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), following the challenge, accused the EC and the NPP of conniving to disenfranchise the people.
However, after the inability of the 31 to appear before the committee and defend their eligibility, the committee, following it sittings on the various challenged cases, recommended to the EC to expunge their names from the register.
Vindication
The Atiwa East leadership of the NPP, in a press statement last week, stated that they had been vindicated by the verdict of the committee.
The statement signed by constituency secretary, Phillip Anokye Frimpong, said, “Following the challenge filed against the 31 non-inhabitants of the constituency who managed to register illegally, the MP, Abena Osei-Asare, wrote officially to the District EC officer demanding the sitting of the committee on the issue of the challenged cards”.
“It is never true that we had seized some cards as speculated by the NDC. But we wilfully remained reticent on the false allegation till the committee comes out with their verdict. We had invitation from the District EC officer to meet the committee on Monday.
“The committee met all the political parties concerned on the issue of the challenged cards but the NDC, after producing a lawyer, had no substantial evidence. They however adjourned the sitting to Tuesday, yet those people could still not appear before the committee,” the statement said.
According to the NPP, “the committee’s decision is a testament of the fact that the NPP in the Atiwa East will not peddle lies as done by the NDC but will look to the law to ensure that the right thing is done in the run up to the 2020 general election.”
