Abandoning indelible ink will threaten integrity of 2024 polls – NDC

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the avoidance of indelible ink in the 2024 general elections will threaten the integrity of the electoral process.

At a press conference held on Monday, January 8, 2024, at the NDC headquarters in Adabraka, the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah emphasized the importance of retaining the indelible ink, saying it is a crucial component of the election verification process.

According to him, the discontinuation of indelible ink usage at this stage could pave the way for illicit activities that may compromise the credibility of the elections.

Mr. Asiedu Nketiah emphasized that indelible ink plays a multifaceted role in elections. It serves as a visible and transparent means of verifying voters, in addition to the biometric verification already in place.

“The NDC strongly opposes the removal of indelible ink because it visibly, transparently, and physically verifies voters in addition to biometric verification. Indelible ink marks and identifies voters to discourage and prevent them from engaging in multiple voting, particularly when there is apathy”.

“Why do away with this multi-layered tried and tested verification system that adds additional credibility to Ghana’s electoral process?”

He further noted that “In the event of a malfunction of the Biometric Verification Device (BVD), if a voter attempts to vote twice or more, the surest and quickest way to identify such a criminal is the stain of indelible ink on the person’s finger. The EC must not make life easy for criminals to exploit our electoral process. Moreover, without indelible ink, a pliant EC official can allow a voter to vote whether or not the person is on the register at a particular polling station” he added.