“I am NPP’s Biggest Nightmare; they can’t dare – AFRIYIE ANKRAH

Aspiring NDC General Secretary, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah says he stands tall and remains the biggest nightmare for the NPP which is already scheming to repeat 2020 machinations, but that he says can only be repeated over his dead body if he wins the slot.

Mr Ankrah who spoke on GBC Breakfast Show described the 2020 Election petition case as pure travesty of justice, a situation that has thought the NDC great lessons going into 2024.

“the 2024 election may appear as a done deal but we will not be complacent. These people (NPP) know that they have failed, they have accumulated a lot of money. We saw what they did in 2020, they will try to do more and therefore the NDC needs someone who is very strong, someone who is seasoned, someone who has the experience and track record like me. 2008 I was in there with them, 2012 I dealt with them and in 2020 if I was fully in charge, things would have been different story”…… he emphasized assuring NDC delegates that if he should be elected as the party’s Chief scribe, NPP will have sleepless nights.

Mr Ankrah, who was NDC’s Director of Elections before the last elections rejected accusations that his office went to sleep during the transmission of results. He explained that unlike the party’s approach to previous national elections, the Directorate of Elections was not fully in charge of collation and transmission of results.

“an IT directorate was set up from the National, regional, constituency levels. So our job was that at the close of polls, we hand over the Pink Sheets to the IT guys for the collation and transmissions. People are used to the election directorate being responsible for the entire chain. But for 2020 those two were taken out of our mandate.”

He however said they worked together as a team and the back up plan was the manual collation system which was triggered when it became obvious the transmission of results electronically was being compromised.

“Incidentally, the IT Directorate also had a similar system as a third layer of their transmission. So on the 8th of December, we had our results and by 5pm we had briefed our flagbearer and the national executives and that was when we realized several discrepancies from the EC’s results especially from the Ashanti region. We also noticed that for the Parliamentary elections we won 142 seats”…. he emphasized.

He noted with pain that the NPP used the security apparatus to perpetrate violence, murdered eight people citing the Techiman South incident which has been shelved.

They manipulated the process together with the help of the EC and  .. ‘Took away Techiman South, Takwa Nsuaem, Essikado Ketan, Zabzugu, and Sefwi Wiawso among others and these cases are in court”.

On the Supreme Court verdict and unanimous decisions during proceedings, the outspoken Ankrah, who was one time a deputy Campaign Manager for the late Professor Mills during the 2008 elections and Campaign Coordinator for former President John Mahama in the 2012 elections both of which saw the victory of the party said…… “When we briefed leadership, we made it clear there were discrepancies with the results EC was transmitting so we did a pink sheet recall and did a national audit with several teams led by Sammy Gyamfi, Dr Valerie Sawyerr, Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey among others were set up and a comprehensive report was sent to the legal team which took a decision”.

Based on the analysis, they were to go to Court to challenge the EC to prove how it declared the results.

“The declaration by Jean Mensah was illegal, because she made several declarations, she did not go through the processes. The first was above 100%,  the second was below 100%, and subsequent declarations all had errors. So the basis of our case was that those declarations were unconstitutional and she must make public what informed those declarations and the errors detected”

We were going to ask her about 12 questions. “at what point she detected the errors, what documentations were used to determine the results were less than 100%, what formed the basis for the next calculation. So all these were questions we had put together but the Supreme Court Judges told us in open Court to hold on and that when the Returning Officer, the EC boss, Jean Mensah mounts the witness box, we put them to her”…. He explained.

Mr Ankrah, who was also a former deputy local Government Minister and later became a Sports Minister during the Mahama administration, said they obliged and also asked for permission to examine EC’s documents which was denied.

“that for us was travesty of justice because the Electoral Commissioner is not an ordinary citizen. She was the sole Returning Officer of the national elections so if there were grievous issues she should have been made to mount the witness box”

The judges are on record to have assured the party and Ghanaians know very well the unanimous rulings that denied the NDC its right.

Mr Ankrah said regardless, the NDC did marvelously well in 2020 after the painful loss with over one million votes in 2016 and an improvement in parliamentary seats today to 137 for both sides and a Speaker from the NDC.

“I believe the momentum is on our sides and I am sure of victory come 2024..he added.

On what he will do differently, he said his excellent track record is one of he trump cards and vast experience aside being campaign coordinator to his role as deputy Local Government Minister which has opened him up to the grassroots base of the party who he is ready to work with passionately in the collective interest of the party.