A Deputy Director of Elections and IT for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Rashid Tanko-Computer has raised strong objections to the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to begin printing ballot papers without first releasing the voters’ register and other key election documents to political parties. In an interview with Starr News, Dr. Tanko-Computer criticized the EC for what he called a lack of transparency and insisted that party leadership, not just agents, should be directly involved in these crucial stages of the electoral process.
“They start inviting party agents to come. To bribe them or what? How can the party agents come and take decisions on behalf of the party? It doesn’t work out like that,” Dr. Tanko-Computer argued.
Dr. Tanko-Computer also stressed that it is the leadership of the political parties, not their agents, who should be responsible for reviewing and approving ballot printing documents.
“Party agents can’t be the ones signing off at the printing house. It’s the leadership that participated in the balloting, presented our documentation, and decided how we want our candidates’ pictures to appear,” he explained.
“We’ve informed them that we will not participate in these processes unless they convene another meeting, so we can properly sign off.”
Dr. Tanko-Computer said the absence of the voters’ register and election statistics poses a significant problem for the NDC.
“How can you print ballot papers without a voters’ register? Where is the register? Where are your statistics?” he queried.
Interestingly, the NDC’s concerns are shared by the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Dr. Tanko-Computer noted that the NPP backed the NDC’s call for more information before printing could begin.
“Even our main opponents, the NPP, supported us on this. They expected to receive ballot statistics by now,” he stated.
Dr. Tanko-Computer also noted that the EC officer present at the meeting lacked the authority to make final decisions but promised to relay the concerns to the EC commissioners.
“He admitted he doesn’t have the authority to resolve this but assured us that he would communicate our message to the commissioners,” Dr. Tanko-Computer stressed.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Mary Asantewaa Buabeng
