Voter registration: Take our qualms seriously – NPP to police

The Acting Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay, has said he expects the Police to treat with all seriousness security concerns the party raised during its press conference on Tuesday May 3.

The leading opposition party had identified some incidents, which Mr Blay said were being perpetrated to either prevent the NPP’s supporters from getting their names on the voter roll or give the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) an upper hand in the November polls.

These included employing violence and intimidation by macho men, registration of minors and foreigners by the NDC, and prevention of students from some senior high schools from registering.

Mr Blay reiterated the party’s stance on Wednesday May 4, on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show.

“We have expressed it, and it’s not that we are joking about it. It’s real. That’s what is happening. We expect the police to take serious note of it and maybe do something about it. If they don’t want to do anything about it, we take note of that,” he told host Prince Minkah.

Asked if he trusted the Ghana Police Service to do a good job to address the grievances of the opposition party, Blay added: “It is not a question of trust, it is their responsibility. And if they don’t want to take their responsibility seriously, it’s for Ghanaians to pass judgement. After all that’s what they are supposed to do.”

The NPP and NDC have been involved in recriminations since the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) rolled out the limited voter registration exercise to allow eligible Ghanaians who are 18 years and above but have not registered, to get their names on the electoral roll. The exercise began April 28 and will run until May 8.