Accra, Dec. 28, GNA - Former President Jerry John Rawlings on Sunday called on Ghanaians to guard against alleged attempts by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the elections. "We have evidence of several machinations by the NPP across the country to subvert the will of the people of Ghana and we need to be extra vigilant to protect the sanctity of our right to choice," he said.

Former President Rawlings made the call after he cast his vote at the Public Works Department (PWD) Annex Polling Station at the Osu Castle. When he arrived at the polling station the voting process was disrupted for several minutes, while voters joined the huge crowd to cheer him as usual. He voted at about 0855 hours after inviting some elderly persons in a long queue to vote before him. The former President also assured one elderly woman that "things will be well with you soon when we come to power".

After voting, he told journalists, "I am very comfortable with the choice I have made but it is important that we do not go to sleep after voting - we need to keep an eagle's eye on the process." He said, while Ghanaians enjoyed Christmas, the NPP got busy with putting measures in place to exact their "fraudulent schemes" on the electoral process. The former President noted that as part of the NPP's scheme, at least 300 civilians had been given military and police uniforms and AK47s and deployed to National Democratic Congress (NDC) strongholds in particular to intimidate voters.

Former President Rawlings appealed to the military in particular to protect their integrity by retrieving the military uniforms and guns given to civilians to do the NPP's dirty job. He also noted that there was evidence of ballot boxes stashed with thumb-printed ballot papers being moved to some constituencies in the Ashanti Region, where NDC polling agents were reportedly intimidated, beaten and chased out. He also recalled that on December 7, a few ballot papers were found already marked with black ink on the side of Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP candidate, but this time round, whole booklets were found in the North Tongu constituency with marks on Nana's side.

"Obviously the integrity of the electoral process has been tampered with and Ghanaians should not look on and allow their right of choice and their will to be tampered with in that manner," he said. Former President Rawlings said it was time for Ghanaians to realise that freedom and justice came at a cost and they must be ready to bear the cost to defend their freedom and justice. "We welcomed democracy and elections through the ballot box and said good bye to coups d'=E9tats some years ago. But when the right of the people's choice is tampered with then we will have no choice than to protect our will in which ever way we can," he said. He called on the Inspector General of Police and the Electoral Commission to act immediately to protect the will of the masses, saying that the level of defiance among the masses would not allow NPP to get away with fraud.

"We will only accept Nana Akufo-Addo's victory on account of the fact that the election is free and fair, but the way things have gone so far the integrity of the process has been badly tampered with so his victory will be questionable," he said. Former President Rawlings called on the media to keep blowing their alarm on the "fraudulent schemes" of the NPP to ensure that the will of the masses was upheld in the elections. "The local and international observers also have a duty to go nationwide and observe the machinations of the NPP for themselves instead of sitting in Accra and writing reports based on what they hear," he said.