Mahama Ayariga Addressing the Press
Two days after voting day, the outcome of the Bawku Central Constituency Parliamentary contest at the Bolgatanga House of Chiefs amidst heavy security due to heightened tension.
The Returning officer Shaibu Karim declared Mahama Ayariga, the incumbent Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, the winner of the Wednesday Polls.
He won with a total of 22, 611 votes, while the New Patriotic Party’s Madam Gabiana Agbanwa polled a total of 21,104.
This year’s election in Bawku Central went well and peaceful with very little disturbances in a few communities which did not have any significant effect on the polls.
However some discrepancies in the results of the Parliamentary Election from some Polling stations resulted in a misunderstanding, hence the delay in the declaration of the Parliamentary results.
There were some suspected over voting cases recorded in some strong-holdes of both the NDC and NPP and as it would be, the two sides refused to accept the outcome at those polling stations and even at the Constituency Collation Centre. The case had to be settled two days after the voting day in Bolgatanga.
At about 5:10pm on Friday, in the course of the recalculation of the figures being disputed over, the NPP Parliamentary Candidate, Gabiana Aganwaa Abugri stepped out of the collation room at the Regional House of Chiefs out of anger, just as Mahama Ayariga did in 2008 when a dispute ensued between he(Ayariga) and Adamu Daramani of the NPP over the election results.
In 2008 Mahama Ayariga left the collation room and Adamu Daramani of the NPP was declared winner in his absence, because the figures went in Adamu’s favour. On Friday, December 9, Madam Gabiana had the declaration done in her absence, just as his nephew, Mahama Ayariga in 2008.
Madam Gabiana Agbanwa Abugri, is a midwife of good standing and raised Mahama Ayariga as an aunty. Despite the tension and disagreement between the two parties(NDC and NPP) right from Bawku to Bolgatanga, there was never a time when the two misconducted themselves towards each other.
The two kept calling their party members and supporters to be calm while the decollation was being done.
Mahama Ayariga in an interview said he was impressed at the performance of the aunty and commended her for the competition.
He promised to build bridges again and maintain an open door administration in his tenure as the member of Parliament for the Bawku Central Constituency in the Upper East Region.
From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga