John Boadu dares EC: 'A new voters’ register is non-negotiable'

The power of the Electoral Commission (EC) has been put to test by the National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, to go according to the opposition party’s demand for a new voters register before the 2016 elections are held.

John Boadu in an interview with Kwame Nkrumah Tikese, the host of Okay Fm’s "Ade Akye Abia" Morning Show, said the call by the NPP for the Electoral Commission to put together a new voters register is not meant to win public opinion and sympathy in their favor, but to ensure that the voters register is clean enough to avoid complaints after every election.

He insisted that electoral reforms are almost a daily routine throughout the world and the country, Ghana, cannot be an exception; emphasizing “nobody is interested in discussing election results for more than 3 months and if you are not lucky it turns to a fight and I don’t think Ghana needs such things to happen.”

When asked of the alternative action for the NPP, John Boadu interrupted saying “no matter what, there will be a new voters register so don’t go there; there will be a new voters register, I am telling you. Whatever democratic way we have to use to make it happen as right citizens of this country to explain to the EC and Ghanaians to see dangers of going for an election which has potential of disorganizing and bringing chaos to country, we will use it,” he said.

He, however, was of the view that the Electoral Commission will not reject good objections to the flaws in the voters register; threatening that the NPP will be on the street to make sure a new voters register is done if the EC doesn’t call for it.

Explaining the reason for the press conference, John Boadu indicated that the public is part of the electoral process as they will not be spared if there is an electoral dispute, making it important for Ghanaians to understand the happenings in the register.