NPP trained polling agents night before election – Wereko Brobby asserts

A founding Member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, has given more credence to his claim that the party leadership is to blame for their defeat in the 2012 general election.

He alleged that most of the NPP polling agents recruited to man the 26,002 polling stations in the 2012 elections across the country were trained a night before the election day.

Dr. Wereko-Brobby disclosed this in an exclusive interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Thursday.

This exposé comes at a time the role of polling agents is in contention in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition before the Supreme Court.

The respondents are arguing that the polling agents have the responsibility to ensure the election is free and fair and devoid of irregularities.

They are of the opinion that since NPP polling agents appended their signatures on the pink sheets of the polling station they are challenging in court, the petitioners have no case.

But the petitioners are of the view that polling agents are observers of the electoral process and thus cannot stop the presiding officer from doing his work even if they raise a protest about an irregularity.

However, Dr. Wereko-Brobby on Ekosii Sen maintains that the petitioners have no case.

He noted that the so called elite party like the NPP recruited uneducated polling agents who could not even send common text messages at a crucial election such as the 2012 election.

Dr. Wereko-Brobby contended that logistics such as bicycles needed to effective police the ballots nationwide in 2012 are still hoarded in most NPP constituency offices across the country.

He added that the polling agents were given only GH¢10 without food and water after working for 24 hours but are now being blamed for not doing their work well.

Tarzan as he is popularly known wondered why NPP party leadership did not use members of the Tertiary Education Students' Confederacy (TESCON) as polling agents but rather recruited inexperienced people to represent the party.

He was quick to say that he holds no qualms against NPP but only want to speak the truth for posterity.

Dr. Wereko-Brobby urged the NPP to tell their members the truth ahead of the obvious outcome of the court case.