Tension is gradually building up in the North Tongu branch of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Volta region over alleged moves by some constituency executives to manipulate the ongoing Biometric Voters Registration (BVR) exercise in some traditional areas, Today has gathered.
Sources have hinted Today that some supporters and members, particularly the polling station executives and delegates of the NDC in the constituency, are strongly protesting clandestine moves by the Youth Organiser, Mr. David Kofi Ahafia, deputy Secretary, Mr. Peter Fenu, and one Godwin Godzor, to carry the BVR exercise in peoples’ homes in some traditional areas including Battor to register them for the NDC membership.
According to sources, the three constituency executives were on Tuesday, August 4, 2015 seen moving from house-to-house in Battor township, registering people, particularly their favourites and family members and also wooing people to become members of the ruling party.
It also emerged that the said constituency executives refused to allow people to go for the biometric registration at the polling station centres in Battor.
They had also been accused of nepotism by hiding the BVR forms and rather giving them out to their favourite and family members to register to become certified members of the NDC.
The ruling NDC is compiling a register of its members to, among other things, help it establish its actual membership.
This is to aid them plan towards retaining power during the 2016 General Elections.
Officials of the NDC told Today that the BVR process when completed will eliminate vote buying, manipulation and factionalism that often characterise internal elections at all levels.
However, Today established that the executives have taken undue advantage of the BVR process, forcing their close allies and family members who were not members of the ruling party to get registered, a development which the supporters and members, particularly the delegates and polling station executives, were unhappy about.
Speaking to this reporter, the delegates and polling station executives at Battor asked the party’s hierarchy to call the constituency executives to order as their action could destroy the party’s political fortunes in the constituency.
They could not understand why the executives should use their position to flout the laid down Biometric Voter Registration process.
When Today contacted Mr. Ahafia on Wednesday, August 5, 2015, he simply denied the claims by the supporters and members of the NDC.
“Nobody is hiding biometric voters’ registration forms from branch executive members to register for the membership of NDC.
“…Nobody has given BVR forms to family members or favourites to do registration because the biometric voters registration exercise is for the NDC family,” Mr. Ahafia asserted.
The first phase of the BVR ended in 2014.The second phase which begun recently seeks to target members who could not register previously to do so.
The second phase of the exercise is expected to end on the 16 August, 2015 and immediately after that nomination will be opened for members desirous of contesting at the parliamentary primaries to file their candidature.
However, speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, General Secretary of the governing NDC, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, stated that “the party is hoping to register 1.5 million Ghanaians as it embarks on a massive biometric membership registration drive.”
According to him, the party has already registered over 500,000 members in the biometric registration exercise.
“The NDC has adopted some measures to increase its membership base nationwide, especially in strongholds of the opposition NPP,” he said.
The NDC earlier this year launched “1 million votes for Mahama” in the Ashanti region and Agenda 50/50 in the Eastern region with the hope of increasing the party’s votes in the two regions in the 2016 General Elections.
The general secretary confirmed that the Volta region has recorded the highest BVR registration so far.
He said, “We’ve been registering for some time now, so we’ve gotten a sizeable number of our party members registered. We are doing just around one million members now, and the breakdown is roughly that Volta region is leading by over 150,000; they are getting close to 200,000.”
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