VOTER ID CARDS FOR LOANS?

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale

THE Northern Regional Secretariat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has alleged that some people in the region are collecting the Voter Identity Cards of women under the pretext of offering them loans.
The party further claimed that some people were also engaged in compiling names of un-registered voters for unexplained reasons.
The party mentioned Bimbilla, Yagaba/Kubori, Wulensi and Gushiegu as some of the constituencies in the region where such activities were going on.
The Northern Regional Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abdulai Harruna Friday, has, however, stated that the “NDC is very vigilant and wide awake and will do everything legally possible to protect the credibility of the voters register, which we think is since qua non to any free and fair elections’.
The secretary therefore cautioned those involved in the collection of the ID cards and registration of names to desist from such practices with immediate effect, “since we will not allow unscrupulous persons or groups to undermine the electoral process”.
He further made it clear that it was only the Electoral Commission that was mandated by law to register qualified voters.
“We are therefore calling on the EC to thoroughly investigate this issue as soon as possible. The issue of the bloated 13 constituencies’ registers in the Ashanti Region is still fresh in our minds and therefore if people are going about writing names of un-registered voters and collecting voter ID cards, then it raises serious suspicion which warrants investigation,” Alhaji Friday stated.
He intimated that, the activities of those people involved in the practice were being closely monitored and that at the appropriate time the party would act decisively.