Resist NDC Rigging Machinery - Minority Leader

The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has charged supporters, sympathizers and agents of the NPP to remain fearless and resolute, to resist any move by the NDC to manipulate the ongoing biometric voters� registration exercise to its electoral advantage. The Suame MP alleged that the NDC had vowed to go at any length to disrupt the registration process in the stronghold of Ashanti region, as a way to prevent mass registration. He, therefore, urged party agents and well-wishers to be extra vigilant and �protect themselves, the process and the machines to ensure that no one is allowed to do whatever he or she likes at the centres.� Speaking to section of the press after a round trip to monitor the exercise in his constituency, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted that despite the NDC�s frantic efforts to cause confusion at every registration centre, their agents had been able to comport themselves without engaging their counterparts in any brawl. According to the Minority Leader, some people believed to be operatives of the ruling NDC were seen at various centres in vehicles bragging that what they had done so far was just the tip of an iceberg and that �if the NPP really believes in their �all-die-be-die� anthem, then they should bring it on since they [NDC] are poised to crush the NPP.� �I tell you people, the NDC and their cohorts have no monopoly of this country and we are not saying things should get out of hands but if they want to cause mayhem at the centres, they should know that our people are not cowards and will protect their lives accordingly�, the MP cautioned. The Minority Leader added that the NPP had strictly warned its members against getting themselves involved with anything that could a threat to the smooth process of the registration exercise, adding that the party expected the NDC to do same. �We have warned our members against instigating troubles at the centres but should rather remain firm and resolute and resist any move meant to generate confusing and run down the process,� he stressed. He expressed shock about the way things were going in most centres in his constituency, with no efforts made by the Electoral Commission to address the teething problems. He was worried that the hitches were needlessly slowing down the exercise in his constituency and the Ashanti region at large. According to him, the NPP does not want to believe the allegations that preceded the registration exercise, which suggested that the NDC and the EC were plotting to disenfranchise the masses in the Ashanti region and other NPP strongholds. �From the look of things, since the beginning of this exercise, I am tempted to believe the accusations that were going round the country of the NDC and the EC�s deliberate plans of preventing those in this region and other NPP strongholds from getting registered�, the NPP MP indicated. Meanwhile, the paper�s rounds at some registration centres, particularly places like Asawase, Aboabo and Akwatialine, depicted fear and anxiety on the faces of potential voters as a result of confusion at those centres. There were also reports of hooliganism at some centres in other parts of the region by some thugs believed to be operatives of the ruling NDC, making frantic efforts to disrupt the registration exercise.