The Interior Minister, Henry Quartey, has refuted claims by the Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, that he intends to rig the general elections in December.

Mr Gbande alleged that the Interior Minister held secret meetings with the Deputy Inspector General of Police and the Director of the National Intelligence Bureau to manipulate the electoral process.

But according to the Interior Minister, these allegations are “baseless" and "unfortunate," and designed to undermine public confidence in the government.

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In addition, he demanded a retraction from Mr Gbande and warned of potential legal action if the claims are not retracted.

“I think this statement is very unfortunate coming from a Deputy General Secretary of a big political party like the NDC. He is making a very wild allegation. He is inciting the public. We have to get him to retract. If he doesn’t do so, then I will put legal redress to show beyond all reasonable doubts that the Interior Minister, National Intelligence Bureau and the Deputy IGP is planning to rig elections. This cannot continue.”

However, Mr Quartey reassured the public of the government’s commitment to a peaceful transition of power if the NPP loses the election.

“If people think that they want us to go, we will hand over peacefully but so long as we live and we remain in power and the security apparatus and architecture of this country remains, nobody will misbehave in this country. If they do, we will let the law deal with them,” he said.