Elections 2024: We slept in 2020, but this time Around we are Well Awake’ – Mustapha

Mustapha Foyo Gbande, the Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has expressed that the party’s lack of alertness contributed to its loss in the 2020 elections, but this time around we are well awake for upcoming general elections in 2024. During an appearance on Onua TV’s morning program, Maakye, acknowledged that the NDC was complacent in the last election and vowed that such a situation would not repeat itself this elections in 2024.

“Captain, I must confess, we were not vigilant in 2020; we were caught off guard, but this time, we are fully alert,” Mustapha Gbande declared on Tuesday, September 03, 2024.

He further claimed that the government is utilizing Dr Eric Bossman Asare, a Deputy Chairperson of the Commission, to manipulate the electoral process to their advantage.

“Bossman is currently being used by the government. He poses a significant threat to the Electoral Commission. It’s alarming that he is the first Deputy Commissioner to be escorted by six armed soldiers and driven by a chauffeur. Is the Inspector General of Police, who oversees the entire Ghana Police Service, afforded such protection? Does the Governor of the Bank of Ghana have armed military guards? What secrets is Bossman trying to conceal?” he questioned during the broadcast.

Gbande’s concerns stem from some errors in the voters’ register which the NDC drew the attention of the EC on.

The NDC had earlier accused the Commission of deliberately transferring people from their place of voting to other centres whilst they were not aware of the development. These acts occur just to bloat the number of voters registered in favour of the ruling party.

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The party issued a statement and demanded the Commission to explain to the public how those errors came about. In a press conference addressed by the Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, he admitted that although there were errors, those were not intentional and also to aid any rigging as the NDC alleged.

The Commission has nothing to hide. The Provisional Voters Register is a public document on display and is available online for voters to access to verify their details. This is not a secret document. At the end of the day, the Final Register will be made available to all the Political Parties, as per the law and normal practice.”
 
“The preparation of the Register is a human endeavour. There are bound to be mistakes.  This is not the first time the Commission has recorded mistakes during the registration of voters and compilation of the Voters Register. This has been the case since 1992. The issues range from missing names, swapped photos and gender, wrong additions or omitted names, et cetera. This is not new.”

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“Preliminary investigations by the Commission have revealed that voter transfers were indeed effected for Thirty-Eight (38) individuals using the credentials of an Electoral Commission Official. The records of those transfers are captured in the Voter Management System’s (VMS) audit logs. A look at the verification done during the transfer process shows that photos of the voters from their Voter ID Cards were used for facial verification and to effect the transfer,” he disclosed.

“It is also absolutely untrue that the Commission has added names to the Voters Register in a bid to rig the elections for a particular party. Those allegations are without merit and should be disregarded by the Public. The EC has no intention of bloating the register to give any political party an advantage over the other for the upcoming elections in 2024,” Dr Asare added.