ADVERTISEMENT

Ghana's democracy is under threat - Nana Addo

Nana Addo said "the biggest threat facing Ghana’s democracy is our fraudulent voter register. It contains millions of extra names. The register is bloated".

 

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said Ghana's democracy is currently under threat, following allegations of a bloated register.

Delivering a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a leading Think Tank in Washington, on Tuesday, the NPP flagbearer said "No one should take democracy for granted. Democracy must be protected at all times, and right now it is under threat in Ghana.The biggest threat facing Ghana’s democracy is our fraudulent voter register. It contains millions of extra names. The register is bloated – it is estimated that upwards of 2 million of the registered voters are bogus. It is packed with ineligible underage voters, and foreign and fake identities. If we’re calling ourselves a democracy, this is unacceptable. This is a real problem, the kind that cannot be brushed under the carpet as it provides the vehicle for manipulation and fraud".

In his recap of issues surrounding the compilation of the 2012 biometric voters’ register, Nana Akufo-Addo stated that after the registration exercise was complete, the Electoral Commission told Ghanaians that it had captured details of some 13 million Ghanaians, and would embark on the process of cleaning up the register. Strangely, after the ‘cleaning exercise’, the figure shot up to some 14 million people.Also, with Ghana’s median age being 20 years and 8 months, and with over 2 million of population being foreigners, it is shocking that the country has over 55% of the population registered to vote, explaining that “this is by far the highest in the whole of Africa and its young population.”According to Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP has presented evidence of tens of thousands of cross-border registration of non-nationals on the register to the EC, with its case further strengthened by three of the big five political parties, who have also called for a new register.“Our two living former heads of state, religious leaders, Imams, Christian Council, Catholic Bishop Conference, etc, also want a changed register,” he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

The NPP flagbearer stated that one of the perplexing state stories in the last decade has been how things have gone spectacularly wrong for Ghana, which is vividly captured by an article in the Bloomberg titled ‘Ghana's Success Story Goes Dark’.“Even we in opposition did not think our rivals could make things get this bad. What is frustrating for the Ghanaian people is that we believe it is all, in essence, avoidable. We believe we have what it takes to make Ghana work again. So my task is not to deepen the gloom but to give both Ghanaians and the investor community a reason to hope. That, yes, the story today may be bad but change is coming,” he said.According to Akufo-Addo, the reasons informing the clarion call for change in Ghana, stem from the mismanagement of Ghana’s economy, rising cost of living, rising cost of doing business in Ghana, rising levels of unemployment, as well as rampant and widespread cases of corruption, amongst others, under the government of John Mahama.

Nana Addo also urged the international community focus on Ghana ahead of the conduct of the 2016 elections, even though the country has been held up as an example for the rest of Africa to follow.

According to Nana Addo, the stakes for 2016 elections are high, and this calls for a clarion change."The stakes are certainly high. The calls for change in my country continue to increase. And let me explain some of the issues informing this clarion call. Ghana’s public debt has shot up 1,000% in less than 7 years since the NDC took office. This year we are spending nearly $2.5 billion to service interest payments on our loans alone. That same figure represented our entire debt in 2009".

"Over the last 3 years, the social and economic lives of the people have been heavily disrupted by severe, chronic power cuts. The cost of this is estimated to be equivalent to 7% of our GDP, according to calculations made by the reputable Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), based at the University of Ghana", Nana Addo said.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT