Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of NDC

Members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have started a fresh campaign against the compilation of a new voters’ register, using the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) as a clear ruse.

The new ruse appears to have come in handy for them after exhausting their dices, including demonstrations, open threats and the use of amenable civil society organizations to undertake advocacy campaigns for them.

They have mounted a fresh campaign on social media, exposing their hidden agenda against a new voters’ register and, therefore, ready to jump onto any possible reed in the river.

Leading the charge on social media are their numerous communicators who are sharing a well-crafted propaganda that seeks to scare the public from going to registration centres when the Electoral Commission (EC) finally opens the process for the acquisition of new voters’ identity cards.

Starting with a rhetorical question, they ask readers to judge for themselves whether being in a crowd to register makes sense when there is a possibility of contracting the coronavirus infection, which started in China and currently spreading in some parts of the world.

“You queue in that close proximity for long time; you breathe and when anybody coughs, you panic but breathe (WITHOUT a Nose Mask) the air,” adding, “You sweat and clean your face,” they claimed.

Continuing and this time a direct hit at the BVR device where, according to them, “all previous persons have placed potentially infected fingers.”

“The EC officials who have been exposed to EVERYBODY without protection interact with you while you breathe facing each other…you collect the New VOTERS’ ID Card from the EC staff who is not wearing gloves while handling the card,” they pushed mischievously.

Public reaction

Those who have read the post could not help but wonder why the NDC will want the COVID-19 to hit Ghana simply because, for them, it is a means of scuttling the compilation of a new voters’ register.

The other factors which should inform the scuttling of the planned registration exercise was what, according to the party, was that “you leave the COVID-19 REGISTRATION Centre manned by the EC to your home, office, school, church, mosque, market, etc. to spread the infection…” and then they added, “You start seeing symptoms of COVID-19 after the incubation period.”

Finally, they claim “you go to the health facility where you are confirmed positive; healthcare workers run away instead of quarantining you.”

Clearly assuming that there could be a COVID-19 case in Ghana, the party states that “for now, we don’t know if there are cases of COVID-19 in Ghana, as there is not yet a ‘confirmed case’.”

All that is needed, according to the NDC, is the presence of an infected person in one or more registration centres, to trigger disaster.

They then linked it to the current register, saying, “The current register is credible according to the EC and that they only want to make it more credible (from 99.4% to 100%) which is impossible.”

They pointed at the now suspended lesser Hajj and football matches, among other measures, taken around the world as basis for not compiling a new voters’ register, a presentation which is so pedantic that the real motive for treading on this new trajectory is not far-fetched.

The NDC also claims President Akufo-Addo has no plans to deal with the virus, yet wants to endanger the lives of Ghanaians with a new voters’ register.

Source: Graphic.com.gh