Stop creating tension over register – Tarzan to NPP

The Chief Policy Analyst at the Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options (GIPPO), Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, has cautioned the New Patriotic Party (NPP) against unjustifiably challenging the validity of the voter’s register because their antics are impeding the preparedness of the Electoral Commission ahead of the General election in November.

Dr. Wereko Brobby, a member of the NPP, went as far as accusing the party of dishonesty. According to him, some of them have falsely claimed that the V.C.R.A.C Crabbe Panel recommended validation to be done using a particular method which they would find more satisfying.

He said his assessment of the report from the committee shows that the EC is almost following the recommendations to the letter.http://ghanapoliticsonline.com/

Speaking on Citi Eyewitness News, Dr. Wereko Brobby highlighted the fact that a lot of the discourse on the credibility of the register has come to focus on the methodology of validation and not the validation itself.

“Validation does not have a prescribed way of doing it. In fact, some people are arguing not about creating a credible register. They are arguing about creating a particular methodology to suit what they call validation. That does not lie with anybody except the Electoral Commission.”http://ghanapoliticsonline.com/

Let’s stop creating anxiety ahead the election

He noted that the constant complaints about the credibility of the register was going to give the average Ghanaian the wrong impression that due process was not followed and this will “create a state of insurrection and anxiety in this country.”

“We are creating a space that is going to create trouble for us if people start giving impression to the people of Ghana that we lost the election because a certain way of doing things was not followed,” he added.

Aside the breeding of tension and anxiety ahead of the elections, Dr. Wereko Brobby says the protests could affect the EC’s preparedness for the November polls.

“Let us not assume that the EC can face all the challenges of the disruption and still be able to deliver the election on November 7.”

NPP should champion vigilance and not validation

Dr. Wereko Brobby also argued that if the NPP believes change was going to come on November 7, the issue for them is to be vigilant, not to fight about validation.

“The one who will win the general election on November 7 is the one who will get 50 percent-plus-one of the valid votes cast on that day, not on the electoral register but of the valid votes cast on that day… Therefore the focus of NPP’s action should be vigilance to ensure that on that day, the ballots that are cast are the valid ones that will be used to determine the President of Ghana.”

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