The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Asawase Constituency, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, says the just-ended voter registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC) has rather created division amongst Ghanaians.
According to him, the exercise has led to enmity between some community members, especially those whose eligibility, was challenged when they turned up at the various registration centres to go through the process.
The Asawase MP spoke to journalists at an event to show appreciation to party agents who were assigned at the registration centres to monitor the exercise.
Since the beginning of the voter registration exercise, the Asawase Constituency has dominated media headlines after both NPP and NDC accused each other of busing non-residents to register in the constituency.
The eligibility of over a thousand registrants in the area was challenged as party agents at the centres either claimed they were not residents of the constituency or citizens of Ghana.
The Asawase MP, Muntaka Mubarak, highlighted these instances that characterized the just-ended exercise and concluded they had caused division among community members.
“There have been deep divisions in our communities and even the whole country. If you look at what’s happening in the Volta Region, Banda, Kasoa, nothing can describe this exercise than a divisive one. It has divided us more. And I believe they [the NPP] have only created the sword that they will fall on.”
“For example, when you come to Aboabo Bolabola, I know a lot of people there who are NPP members. They are challenging blindly to the extent that they are challenging their own. Many of them have come to me to assure me that they will vote for me because of what their own had done to them. What can be more divisive than this?” he wondered.
In the last few days, a viral video has surfaced on social media showing the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Chairman Wontumi, with some party executives jubilating over what they termed a voters’ register victory.
Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC, Kwame Zu, says the NPP should rather be sad since the EC’s data from the registration exercise shows that there are decreases in the number of registrants in constituencies seen as the strongholds of the NPP.
“Everybody knows that the NPP garners the huge chunk of votes from the Ashanti Region. But if you look at the dynamics per the figures that are being churned, instead of their own projection of a little over 3.36 million in the Ashanti Region, they have lost. They have not been able to meet their target. There is a shortfall per their own target of over 250,000 per the NPP’s own target in the Ashanti Region.”
He continued, “So I was shocked to see somebody popping champagne. I don’t know if the figures were explained to him in a manner that he can understand before he chose to pop the champagne. But the reality still prevails that the figures have dropped considerably as compared to the 2019 figure in the Ashanti Region.”
