Muntaka, 4 NDC MPs file motion for probe into 2020 general elections

Five Members of Parliament have filed a private members motion for a thorough probe into the 2020 general elections.

The legislators who jointly filed the motion are MP for Asawase, Mohammed-Muntaka Mubarak; MP for Bolga East, Dr. Dominic Ayine; MP for Akatsi South, Bernard Ahiafor; Buem MP, Kofi Adams, and MP for Salaga South, Zuweira Ibrahimah.

Issues raised by the MPs in the nine-point motion involve allegations of pre-thumb printed ballot papers in the Ashanti Region, the discovery of excess ballot papers during the period, and multiple declarations of results after the polls.

The MPs also seek an investigation into alleged procurement breaches at the Electoral Commission, and an inquiry into the violence in some six constituencies during and after the 2020 polls.

The motion states that the committee to probe the said issues must be chaired by a member of the Minority.

XYZ parliamentary sources state the motion has not been moved in Parliament yet.

The 2020 election results were challenged in the supreme Court by the NDC flagbearer, John Mahama over concerns that the processes were not free and fair.

In 2021, the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), to probe the alleged illegal printing of excess presidential ballot papers in the 2020 general elections.

The General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who signed the petition the papers were printed illegally thus officials of the Electoral Commission and Innolink found culpable, must be prosecuted.

Providing the details of their complaint, the Party alleged that the ballot papers were discovered by their agents when they, alongside others, had returned to Innolink Printing press to supervise the reprinting of ballots for the Afigya Kwabre South Constituency.

According to the Party, “when our agents confronted, the supervisors at Innolink, they gave all manner of incoherent answers. One claimed that it was a ‘back up’ while another lady in charge of the bindery claimed they were meant for ‘run-off. Seemingly confused, officials of Innolink could not provide any further tenable answers.”

“When EC officials were asked about the above development, they denied any knowledge of same…our agents insisted that the ballots should be destroyed forthwith. They ensured that all the ballots which were estimated at over one million were shredded and scheduled for destruction,” the party claimed.

The party said its petition was occasioned by the fact that there had not been any update on investigations on electoral malpractices and violence that characterized the election and voter registration exercise.