A few days ago, a host of a TV show alleged that there is an electoral fraud deployed by political parties called "Yoomo Mafia" where agents sorting ballots papers deliberately put black dye in their hair and subsequently touch ballot papers of opposing parties with stained fingers to render them invalid.

He intimated that any time the NDC won an election the number of spoilt ballots increased, creating the impression that those spoilt ballots were mostly from the NPP strongholds, but interestingly, the case is rather the opposite, and I will prove it.

I will use the 2016 election data as reported by theghanareport.com to argue my case.

The data showed that 4 out of the 10 constituencies with the highest number of rejected ballots were from the Upper East Region, two from Northern, and one each from the Volta, Western, North East and Central Regions.

Nine out of the 10 constituencies with high rejected ballots in the entire country are strongholds of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) with the other being a swing constituency which the NDC won in 2012 but lost in 2016 when "Yoomo Mafia" was purportedly activated.

And the details are as follows:

Ketu South(Volta)

Ketu South an NDC stronghold recorded the highest number of spoilt ballots, 2,011 for presidential and 1,392 for parliamentary.

Karaga(Northern Region

The constituency is a stronghold of the NDC and got 1,997 spoilt ballots in the presidential election and 903 for parliamentary.

Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem(Central Region

In this constituency, another stronghold of the NDC, there were 1,930 spoilt ballots in the presidential election and 129 in the parliamentary election.

Pusiga (Upper East)

1,776 ballots were rejected in the presidential election in Pusiga and 1,241 ballots in the parliamentary election. Pusiga is a citadel of the NDC.

Jomoro (Western Region)

Jomoro Constituency, a fortress of the NDC had 1,747 spoilt votes in the presidential election and 1,098 in the parliamentary.

Nalerigu/ Gambaga (North East)

In Nareligu/Gambaga, another stronghold of the NDC, 1,709 votes were counted as invalid in the presidential election and 1,056 in the parliamentary election.

Gushegu (Northern Region)

Gushegu is a swing constituency where 1,616 votes were not counted in the presidential election and 1,111 in the parliamentary polls.

Bolgatanga Central (Upper East)

In the case of Bolgatanga Central Constituency, another citadel of the NDC, 1,575 voters had their ballots rejected in the presidential election and 1,073 others in parliamentary election.

Bongo (Upper East)

In the Bongo Constituency, also an NDC fortress, 1,575 ballots got spoilt in the presidential election, while 1,018 were rejected for the parliamentary election,

Chiana-Paga (Upper East)

1,569 ballots were rejected in the presidential polls and 1,018 ballots in the parliamentary election. Chiana-Paga is a stronghold of the NDC.

One clear thing about the analysis above is that in all the cases of rejected ballots, invalid votes of the presidential polls were more than that of the parliamentary, an indication that the presidential election was a target of "Yomo Mafia".

The days of Yaanom seemed to be numbered; things are moving too fast and many hidden things are being uncovered too quickly. The confession of the "Yoomo Mafia" is certainly an act of God to warn the NDC to watch out for this rigging ploy in the 2024 polls.

God is indeed wonderful and He is above all powers, thrones, tricks, ruses and schemes. And above all wisdom and all the ways of men.