Richard Jakpa, a lead member of the National Democratic Congress national security team, has declared a firm commitment to counter alleged electoral manipulation by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region during the upcoming 2024 elections.
With just 17 days to go until the 2024 General Election, he described the Ashanti Region, traditionally considered the New Patriotic Party’s stronghold, as ‘the eye of the storm and the epicenter of the earthquake’.
Jakpa emphasized the need to reduce NPP’s voter turnout from their usual high percentages, asserting that the NDC aims to secure genuine votes from real citizens.
He said “We must ensure that the NPP doesn’t achieve their usual high turnout of 70%, 72%, or 75% this time around, which they use to manipulate the election. We won’t allow it to happen again; their percentage should be in the 50s or early 60s”
Jakpa added “We’re taking action to dismantle the rigging machinery that enables them to inflate their votes through illicit means. We demand genuine votes from real people, not artificial ones”.
Jakpa accused NPP officials, particularly Chairman Wontumi, of attempting to bribe polling agents with substantial sums to alter election results.
” Wontumi and his associates want to offer our polling agents bribes of GH¢5,000, GH¢10,000, GH¢20,000, or GH¢50,000, so they alter the figures on the way and provide different pink sheets with manipulated figures. The original pink sheet would be destroyed and replaced with NPP’s fabricated pink sheets containing altered figures for collation” He alleged.
Jakpa urged voters to stand by at the polling station, advising them not to go home but to remain at the polling center to ensure counting is done transparently.
He also instructed them to report any anomalies to the NDC agent. Additionally, Jakpa recommended that voters demand the original pink sheet be posted so they can take pictures of it for future reference
“If issues arise, voters who standby after voting to monitor the counting and declaration can verify that the pink sheets submitted to the collation center are counterfeit”.
He vowed to dismantle Wontumi’s alleged rigging tactics and ensure transparency at polling stations.
“Wontumi has stated that the Ashanti Region belongs to him and that he’s the leader by any ways and means. He has also claimed to have numerous strategies for winning elections. Similarly, Jakpa has his own methods to counter any rigging attempts”.
Richard Jakpa however stressed that both he and Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, Bernard Antwi Bosiako, share a similar cunning mindset, and he dared Bosiako to battle it out at the polling grounds.
“Wontumi has a criminal mindset, and I possess one as well. When two cunning individuals meet, people with a clear conscience may be unaware of what’s happening, but we understand each other’s intentions.”
Source: www.kumasimail.com / Kwadwo Owusu
