EC rejects NDC’s request for forensic audit of voters register

The Electoral Commission (EC) has rejected the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) request for a forensic audit of the voters’ register.

The denial was disclosed by Dr. Omane Boamah, the Director of Elections for the NDC, following an emergency meeting with the EC in Accra on Friday.

The meeting was convened by the NDC after the party identified what it described as widespread discrepancies in the register during the recent exhibition exercise.

In a statement to journalists, Dr. Boamah commented, “We believe that the same entity that created the problem should not be the one to resolve it. This is why we have referral systems in the healthcare sector.”

“The EC must agree if the EC has nothing to hide and we don’t want to believe they have anything to hide. The EC must agree to an independent body to audit this. It has happened before. And let me speak on authority that the UNDP is ready and willing to provide the support only if the electoral commission will write to request for this support.”

“This is not the first time I have suggested this at IPAC, about two months ago, I suggested this, and the electoral commission will not budge. Look, development partners are interested in chipping in here and there for such an audit to take place.

“It is obvious, abundantly obvious, that the NDC has the capacity to assist. And we are saying that you can bring experts from the various political parties.”

“…They have not accepted the independent forensic audit, expectedly. It’s not all doctors who readily refer. It’s not all workers who readily when issues are above them, refer. Some of them wait until bridges collapse. Some of them wait until patients are even on the verge of dying before they push them.

“You would have loved that the electoral commission accepted this. Unfortunately, the Electoral Commission did not. However, it doesn’t take away the fact that a forensic audit is what it will take to assure Ghanaians because we have listed these problems,” stated.