NPP Decries 'Secret' EC Plans To E Transmit December Results.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has expressed grave concern about the Electoral Commission (EC)’s handling of processes for the electronic transmission of the December 7 election results.

Acting National Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay says the Commission has not been transparent with the arrangements despite the major role political parties play in the election process.

“Indeed we are not happy [because] it is one of the issues that we addressed that all [things] being equal in this modern age e-transmission of the results should be the order of the day but it should not be done as if it’s administrative,” he said.

The NPP had urged transparency in the arrangements put in place by the Commission to sublet the e-transmission of the December 7 election results to a private company.

NPP Campaign Manager, Peter Mac Manu had told Joy News on August 2 that the Commission failed to invite political parties to attend a meeting scheduled for the five shortlisted companies to demonstrate their systems.

“First, there is no law which gives the EC the mandate to electronically transmit results. Nothing in the law before Parliament now, C.I.94 makes mention of it,” he said then.

The Commission later discontinued the procurement process for the Election Results Management System (ERMS) citing the failure of the companies to “meet the technical criteria and major deviations from the administrative criteria.”

Mr Blay said the Commission should have involved the parties if it is interested in protecting the sanctity of the process. “What is the integrity of it all?” he asked, saying the NPP “won’t leave anything to EC alone.”

Notwithstanding, he said the NPP will “make sure that there will be a fair election and the result will be what Ghanaians want it to be and not what some of the people, officials and non-officials want.”

Reacting to the issue on the Joy FM’s Midday news programme Monday, EC’s Communications Director, Eric Dzakpasu explained despite the discontinuation of the procurement process, the Commission will still go ahead with the electronic transmitting of the results.

He said the system the Commission would use was piloted in four by-elections held this year and would be demonstrated to the political parties at the appropriate time in order to allay their fears.

Despite the NPP’s claim of non-involvement, Mr Dzakpasu said the Commission has been open with all the political parties from the beginning when the decision was taken at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting, stressing nothing is shrouded in secrecy.

One Arrested Over 'Who Kill Atta Mills' Poster.

One suspect has been arrested in Kumasi in the Ashanti region in connection with the circulation of some posters bearing the inscription ‘Who killed Atta Mills?’

The leader of the suspected group was apprehended on Friday October 14 and handed over to the police, reports say.

He was picked up at a location close to the venue where the National Democratic Congress (NDC) launched its campaign in the region on Saturday, Police in the region confirmed.

A similar poster popped up at the newly-built Cape Coast Stadium, when the NDC launched its national campaign months ago.

IMANI Praises NPP manifesto.

Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana has praised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the contents of its 2016 manifesto describing some aspects of the document as “noble.”

According to President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe the manifesto’s component which seeks to reduce or scrap some taxes in the country is phenomenal but urged the party to clarify the idea. Speaking on Citi FM‘snews analysis programme, The Big Issue, on Saturday, Mr. Cudjoe, whose outfit had analyzed manifesto promises made by the various political parties, asked some five questions he said if answered would make the NPP’s manifesto better.

The NPP launched its manifesto last week in Accra on the broad theme of “creating prosperity and equal opportunity for all.”

The manifesto is loud on reducing the corporate tax rate from 25% to 20% and social intervention programmes including setting up a Northern development fund as well as giving each constituency an amount of $1 million.

Franklin Cudjoe’s question about NPP’s manifesto:

“We think they need to clarify whether the proposed corporate income tax rate would be a flat tax rate that cuts across all sectors, because this is a very critical question. If you say 20% does it mean all sectors? Because currently there are some sectors that enjoy lower tax rates than 25%. In fact hotels, financial institutions and companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange for instance enjoy corporate tax lower than 25%,” Mr. Cudjoe noted.

He also wanted to know whether the NPP would remove the “incentive deferential and tax these companies at a flat tax rate of 20%? What about non-traditional exporters who are taxed at only 8%.”

“In 2010 the government revised the mining tax rate back to 35% after the NPP brought it down to 25%in 2006. But the question we ask is would the mining sector be affected by this new flat tax rate? The other promise which is 75% of tax funded procurement shall be executed by local companies. This is noble, clearly noble, but the NPP needs to explain how this local content policy would do given the history of such trend. Sectorial schemes have not been very effective like we’ve been seeing.”

“We’ve dealt with the NDC, we’ve seen some instances where local content issue within the mining or petroleum sector were a bit shady and quite worrying so anybody who wants to do something like that needs to be exact clear on exactly what they want to do.”

On the NPP’s social intervention programmes on establishing a Northern Development Fund  and one million for each constituency, Franklin Cudjoe said “we need further details on how this one would differ from the other ones.”

“Question also is what administrative machinery would be put in place in these constituencies to oversee the allocated money. We don’t want a situation where SADA created was actually a parallel development authority when you had regional bodies as well otherwise this may look like they are duplicatory especially when we have district assemblies as well,” the IMANI boss added.

Volta NDC Panics.

Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that the successful launch of the manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has sent shivers down the spine of the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) across the country, particularly in the Volta Region.

 

Some key members of the NDC in the Volta Region told DAILY GUIDE that the enthusiasm that greeted the launch of the NPP’s manifesto had led to a rethink of their strategy.

 

They said they had received several calls from various parts of the region about the inroads being made by the NPP due to apathy among NDC members.

 

In an attempt to boost the morale of members and sympathizers of the NDC in the region, the regional executives, in consultation with the national executives and other key personalities of the NDC, have devised new strategies and boosted the old ones.

 

The sources disclosed this ahead of a press conference by the NDC in Ho on Tuesday.

 

They said the press conference was held to create a positive impression about the NDC to motivate the party’s members.

 

 

 

Empty manifesto

 

 

 

A press statement, read by the regional chairman of the NDC, John Kwadwo Gyapong, emphasized that “we (NDC) are confidently reiterating our unalloyed and unflinching support for His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama to win the 2016 elections.

 

“President Mahama and the NDC must be given another mandate to continue to build a Better Ghana,” it stated.

 

The support, he noted, was emboldened by what he described as the empty ‘Kalyppo’ Manifesto launch last Sunday.

 

 

 

Admission of failure

 

 

 

“We cannot say that the entire Volta Region has been fully developed under the Better Ghana Agenda started by late President Atta Mills.

 

That notwithstanding, the good works that have begun should not be truncated with the change of the current leadership of the country.”

 

The firebrand chairman disclosed that the NPP’s promise of a habour at Keta was overdue because the NDC had started some feasibility studies in the area, which indicated that the project could only be executed after the construction of a sea defence wall at Akplorwu Torkor, Horvi and Blekusu.

 

He added that approval has also been given for a deep-sea oil exploration in the Keta Basin by a Swiss company.

 

In an attempt to counteract the NPP’s Coastal and Middle Belt Development Authorities, Mr. Gyapong revealed that the NDC would establish a development authority, especially for the Volta region.

 

He stated that the NDC government would construct a bridge over the Volta Lake, water processing plant at Sogakofe, as well as offer 10 tractors per district, among others.

 

 

 

Tribal card

 

 

 

He said that “if Volta gives NPP a chance it means the construction of the bridge on the Volta Lake, establishment of satellite campuses of UHAS at Hohoe and Keta, water projects, among others, will come to a standstill.

 

Kofi Attoh, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho Central and senior member of the party, called for unity among the supporters of the party to ensure the re-election of President Mahama.

 

Koku Anyidoho, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, noted that the NPP should forget about the region because it would continue to be the ‘World Bank’ of the NDC.

 

Also in attendance were Dzifa Attivor, the former Transport Minister and other party executives in the region.

EIU Predicts Another Victory For Akufo-Addo In 2016 Elections.

The Economic Intelligence Unit has yet again predicted victory for the opposition New Patriotic Party in the 2016 elections, this time, a convincing one.

The Unit in April released the report of a survey that suggested the NPP would win the upcoming elections by a close margin.

But according to a new report released Thursday, the presidential and parliamentary elections in November or December is likely to be acrimonious but the NPP will turn out victors with a convincing margin.

The report says the discontent over adverse economic conditions in the country is likely to cost the ruling party the elections.

The report comes at a time the country is still reeling under a four-year-old power crisis which has affected businesses and led to loss of lives and jobs.

The combined effect of an increase in taxes, utility prices have all the more made the cost of living high for many Ghanaians.

The EIU says "pre-election spending in 2016 will put pressure on the fiscal deficit target set in conjunction with the IMF, although the government will be more successful at resisting large-scale populist spending than in previous election years."

Threats of violence

The report minced no words about the possibility of violence in the upcoming elections. It said the elections will expose Ghana to notable risks, some of which will come from outside.

With the reports of corruption in the country's Judiciary and the experiences in the 2012 election petition, the report suggests none of the parties will be interested in going to the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict of the election, a situation that has raised political tensions a notch higher. 

The representatives of the two parties mentioned in the reports have predictably praised portions of the report and condemned portions of as well.

The New Patriotic Party's Moustapha Hamid said he and his party did not need the report of EIU to know that the governing party will be humiliated in the upcoming elections.

He said he just returned on a five regional tour with the party's running mate and can say without any equivocation "that there is no way the NDC will beat us."

"I have been involved in political campaigns since 2004 but have never seen this groundswell of support for the NPP," he said, adding, "this is the year the people of Ghana are ready to change course."

A Deputy General Secretary of the governing NDC Koku Anyidoho said the report is inconsistent.

He wondered how the report will suggest that the ruling government is not doing well with the economy but conclude any party that wins the elections will inherit a stable economy ready for a take off.

He said the president has done a good job began by the late president John Mills, and the people of Ghana will give him another term to complete his job.