NPP using ROPAA to make Ghana “one party rule” – Dr. Hassan Ayariga
The founder and leader of All People’s Congress (APC) Dr. Hassan Ayariga has stated that the ruling government is behind the Accra High court’s ruling, that ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to implement the Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA), and a ploy to manipulate the voters’ register abroad to hold on to power forever.
He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has set an agenda in motion by pushing out the EC Chair, Madam Charlotte Osei and her two deputies and bring in their own choice to finish up their agenda.
The High Court in Accra, Human Rights Division, presided over by His Lordship Justice Anthony K. Yeboah, on Monday, December 18, 2017, ordered the Electoral Commission to implement within 12 months, the Representation of the People Amendment Act also known as the ROPAA law, 2006 [Act 699].
He thus condemned the EC’s failure to address challenges preventing Ghanaians living abroad from voting, and specifically asked them to ensure that arrangements are made for such people to vote in the 2020 elections.
He said the ROPAA law was passed by Parliament, and that the EC can cause the same Parliament to approve funding for them to ensure the implementation.
Speaking in an interview with Otec news’ Francis Appiah on Tuesday, December 19, 2017, Dr. Ayariga said NPP is sure of pushing Charlotte Osei out of office and fill in with their person to make Election 2020 a formality by using the ROPAA votes to augment the local votes.
“There is a concocted plan by the NPP, the smart people of the nation, the smart political party of our time has already put some various plans in place to win the 2020 election and beyond. So they pushed the court to give an order, when Madam (Charlotte Osei) is impeached, it very easy for them to put anybody who can equally be managed the EC in their favour,” he said.
Dr. Ayariga, whose nomination forms was rejected by the EC to contest the 2016 elections for lack of diligence in filing the forms, said NPP is going to use Ghana missions abroad, manned by their own ambassadors to compile the voters’ register and the ambassadors will fill them with number of names to their advantage to win elections.
“The ambassadors have the right to register as many people as they want abroad, all they need to do is to get ghost names, passports, identification cards and give them to various people to come and vote for them,” he noted.
“If they come out with voters’ register of ten or fifteen million eligible voters’ register, who is going to challenge them, because they have their ambassadors working for their interests, not for the interests of Ghana. That means that we will be having a voter register abroad that will be more than what we have in Ghana here, and that is a very alarming issue,” he added.
He, therefore, hinted of going to the court to challenge the Accra High court order to the EC to save the country from “one-party rule”.
Source; otecfmghana.com/Francis Appiah
