The Youth Organiser for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Wa Central Constituency of the Upper West Region, Hanif Jaoto has predicted a landslide victory for the party in the 2020 general elections.
Addressing a media briefing here on Tuesday, he said the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the biggest opposition party, has no message to warrant votes from Ghanaians.
“It is quite evident that the NDC has no message for Ghanaians and it is obvious they will lose the 2020 elections with a greater margin and as such the attempt to scout for available options to run away from the elections,” Mr Jaoto said.
The Youth Organiser indicated that the NDC was using every opportunity that accrued to it to destabilise the country’s democracy by dissuading people from participating in the upcoming voter registration.
He alleged that the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia was in the region two weeks ago to convince the youth against participating in the new voter’s registration if the exercise commenced.
“As youth, we found this action of his as very unfortunate and ridiculous but we were however not surprised because the NDC has always been good at being in opposition,” Mr Jaoto stated.
He reiterated that since the Electoral Commission (EC) had described the current register as unfit for purpose, it was necessary for the youth to support the course for a new register which would better serve the purpose of conducting free and fair polls in the country.
“The Ghanaian Voter Identify Card (ID) is multipurpose; aside voting with the card which of course is a civil right of every citizen, the card also helps in the transaction of businesses, documentation as well as other activities that require a national identification card,” Mr Jaoto stated.
He emphasised that it was the responsibility of the youth in the region to get their ID cards to ensure that they were able to vote in the elections in order to keep the President in power to continue with the implementation of youth-friendly programmes and policies such as the Nation’s Builders’ Corp, free Senior High School, Planting for Food and Jobs, among others.
He encouraged residents to patronise the new voter ID card registration by turning up in their numbers to register for the cards when the EC commenced the exercise.
Responding to the allegations by the Youth Organiser in an interview, the Regional Communications Officer for the NDC, Mr Prosper Puo-Ire told the Ghanaian Times that Mr Asiedu Nketiah visited the region together with Mr Bernard Mornarh and some other members of the Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Register to seek the support of stakeholders and opinion leaders on the revision of the Constitutional Instrument governing the requirement for the registration for the new voter card.
He said their mission was to stop the possible disenfranchisement of majority of residents of the region due to the quest of the EC to accept only the Ghana Card and Ghanaian passport as a means of identification during the registration exercise as most residents did not have those cards at the time and denied the allegation that they were in the region to dissuade people from participating in the registration exercise.