• The NDC's Director of Elections insists Mahama never spoke about a million thumb-printed ballot papers as claimed by the EC in a recent press conference
• The EC presser responded to a series of allegations Mahama has made regarding the 2020 elections
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the National Democratic Congress’ Director of Elections, has slammed the Electoral Commission for putting words in the mouth of former President John Dramani Mahama.
The EC held a press conference on Monday, October 25, 2021, to respond to recent allegations leveled against it by the former President relative to the conduct of the 2020 General Elections.
The presser addressed by deputy EC chairman, Bossman Asare, accused Mahama of falsely claiming that the EC had thumb printed over a million ballot papers in favour of the incumbent President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
What Dr. Bossman said:
“The Former President has said the EC thumb printed 1million ballots in favor of the president. This is untrue. This is a grave matter that undermines the credibility of our electoral process and should not be ignored.
“We call on him to provide evidence to support his claim. This is not a matter to be ignored and we call on the Ghana Police Service to investigate this.”
What Afriyie Ankrah said
Afriyie Ankrah speaking on the October 25 edition of Top Story news programme on Joy FM in Accra disputed the claims of the EC top official accusing him of trying to obfuscate clearly articulated issues the NDC has raised.
“The former president never said that the EC thumb printed over one million ballot papers. This is deliberate obfuscation of the issues. He (Dr. Asare) has deliberately taken something out of context and then he has created something else and then is asking for a response.
“What we have said …. for which we have accurate video and documentary evidence is that, after ballot papers were printed and dispatched in one of the printing houses, Inolink, it was dispatched, certificates of disposal were issued to show that all the excess ballots had been destroyed.
“There was an issue with one constituency in the Ashanti Region, so we had to come back to that printing house with our agents, when we came, we discovered over one million ballot papers and when they were questioned, they gave conflicting answers,” he added.
According to him, the NDC insisted that those discovered ballots be destroyed, following which a joint operation involving EC officials, operatives of the National Investigation Bureau, Police and media took the ballots to Korle Gonno, “we videoed it and they were destroyed. These are facts with evidence,” he stressed.
According to him, the NDC’s position was that these were the ballots that they had discovered but that Election Day thumb-printed ballot papers in the Ashanti Region could likely mean that some of such unofficial papers found their way into the system.
Mahama has on his recent Thank You tours slammed the EC and its chairperson, Jean Mensa over the conduct of the 2020 polls, which he considers the worst in Ghana’s history, a position the EC strongly repelled in their press conference.
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, NDC Director of Elections