A former Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peter Mac Manu, has served notice the Mahama administration will be changed in 2016 whether the Electoral Commission compiles a new voters’ register or not.
Mr. Mac Manu, who is the leader of Nana Akufo-Addo’s 2016 Campaign Team, made the assertion at the party’s headquarters on Thursday. He was responding to the EC’s position not to create a new voters’ register.
After a petition filed by the NPP alleging that the current voters’ register is bloated with names of minors and foreigners, the EC announced that the party’s claims were not convincing enough to warrant a new register.
This was the recommendation of a five-member committee set up by the commission which investigated the claims of the NPP, the NDC, other parties and civil society organisations.
Among others, the committee said the NPP failed to provide sufficient evidence to support its claims that there were foreign nationals on the current register.
The EC also explained that the laws of Ghana allow people with dual nationality to be on the voters’ register as long as they are eligible.
But Mr. Mac Manu said although the party is dissatisfied with the EC’s response, the Mahama-led administration will be changed in 2016 with or without a new voters’ register.
“We also have a special message for President John Mahama and his NDC. Please listen to this message carefully. With or without a new register, your time is up; change is coming. The Ghanaian people cannot wait to get rid of you with their votes. The Ghanaian people are not prepared to have this year’s election stolen from them. The Ghanaian people are fed up with the eight years of needless suffering under the NDC. Ghanaians have had enough of your incompetence, corruption and deceit. They have risen to the challenge for change. Ghanaians are ready to protect the ballot at the various polling stations and we the NPP are steady and ready to lead the people on this charge for change”. “The collective wisdom of all these political parties, religious leaders, former presidents and ordinary Ghanaians, should not be ignored by the Electoral Commission. The call for a new register is not a party political matter. It is an issue in the supreme interest of Ghana and all Ghanaians. Let us arise for change Insha Allah; NPP shall win the 2016 election to save Ghana.”