Walewale Constituency Secretary for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Northern Region of Ghana, Mr. Simon Ali says the report of the EC’s three member committee has vindicated the Vice Presidential Candidate of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

He explained that the allegation by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) that Dr. Bawumia had paid a bribe of Ghc10, 000 each to the EC officers to verify him has been deflated by the report of the EC’s three member committee.

According to him, another punctured allegation is the EC’s committe report that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was not verified at his family residence as alleged by the NDC.

Speaking on Okay Fm’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Simon Ali insisted that the EC’s report has vindicated Dr. Bawumia since the EC’s Head of Communications, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu clarified that the NPP’s Vice Presidential Candidate has duly been verified.

He maintained that it is baseless for the ruling NDC to involve the Police, asking them to investigate Dr. Bawumia for going to verify his name at an exhibition centre which is created by the EC’s officers, outside the assigned centres.

“CI 91 (2) says it is the responsibility of the EC to designate a place as a registration centre or an exhibition centre. Therefore, one will assume a place set up by the EC’s officers to be the designated place for the exhibition, the moment you see the officers at work”, he highlighted.

“We do not have any locus to determine where the EC should sit to do their official duty; we only go there to get our names verify. This is why the EC’s report says it was the officers who changed the centre from its designated place to a different place; that is why they have sanctioned the officers for their action”, he explained.

He pointed out that, by the virtue of CI 91 (2), Dr. Bawumia has not committed any crime; stressing “there is no criminality in going to verify your name at the exhibition centre where EC officials are operating from”.

“We feel vindicated and we are happy. The NDC should do the honourable thing to render an unqualified apology to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia...he has not been indicted anywhere in the EC’s report; nobody can blame Dr. Bawumia if EC officials decide to move their registration and exhibition centre to a different place which is against their operational instructions”, he opined.

source: peacefmonline.com