The Elections of the constituency officers of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in some constituency across the Country last Saturday was characterized by chaos and confusion over the delay of ballot papers and fake albums.
This followed the delay and arrival of ballot papers across some of the constituencies which could not hold the election, due to the challenges the party encountered in the printing of the ballot papers.
Koforidua
In the New Juaben South constituency of the Eastern Region which has the highest number of delegates in the Region with 1,569 from 179 branches, for instance, the angry delegates of the party stormed out of the venue of the Constituency election over the delayed arrival of ballot papers.
The election which was held at the Koforidua Eredecs Hotel in the morning was scheduled to begin at 9am but not until 1:45 pm.
Even that there was no show, which forced some of the delegates to grab the microphone and vent their displeasure over the delay and lack of communication.
They threatened to beat members of the election committee at the regional level, as they incited the delegates to collectively walk out.
Some of the candidates contesting the polls say the delay and postponement of the election will gravely affect them.
At Suhum, the delegates were left enraged over a delay in the voting process on Saturday.
Some delegates blamed the regional officers for the delay and accused them of trying to influence the voting process.
Ashiaman
There was a serious agitation in the Ashiaman constituency over the elections of the party officers which forced the delegates to call for the postponement of their internal elections.
The delegates said it will be difficult for the over 3000 delegates to vote because there was no lighting system in place to illuminate the area when it’s time for counting ballots deep into the night.
Due to the delay of the ballot papers, the elections were conducted throughout the night in some of the constituencies.
Court Injunctions
Also, due to alleged imposters and ghost names found in the party albums, some of the party members secured court injunctions and placed them in some of the constituencies notably amongst them in the Eastern Region.
The affected constituencies include Atiwa West, Atiwa East, Afram Plains North, and Yilo Krobo.
In the Ashanti region, the Suame office was ransacked by some party members over their names not found in the constituency elections list.
The aggrieved members claimed their names were removed and replaced with unfamiliar ones.
The names of members from 21 branches in the constituency are alleged to have been removed and replaced, and the affected party members are worried they could be disenfranchised in the elections.
FEC Warning
Already the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Friday directed all elections of its constituency executives to be conducted from Saturday, October 22 to Sunday 23, 202.
“All regional party secretariats, regional election directorates, and committees are to ensure that this directive is enforced and strictly adhered to, failing which sanctions will be applied”, the statement said.
Twelve constituencies in Eastern Region have however been put on hold due to court injunction.
The constituencies are; Afram Plains South, Atiwa West (Ballot list issues) Akim Swedr, Afram Plains North -Branches on hold, Upper West Akim, Akropong (Ballot list issues), Nkwawkaw (Ballot list issues) Atiwa East -On hold, Fanteakwa South (Youth Wing elections) Mpraeso, Achiase (Ballot list issues)Arsene Manso Akroso (Women’s Wing elections on hold).
Communication Officer Attacks
The Eastern Regional Communication Director of NDC, Darlas Ampomah Williams in a statement rained “insults” on the Regional Elections Committee of the party for the delay of the polls.
In the statement, he said, “Unfortunately, aspirants and delegates in the Eastern Region will have to go through needless stress due to deliberate delays and lack of capacity of the regional elections management team”.
According to him, “This was expected when a section of the Regional executives cautioned that the printing of Ballot papers should not be left with the then Regional Elections Director who also doubles as an aspirant.
He unilaterally negotiated and procured the services of unknown print houses with some of the aspirants acting as agents”.
“Together with the Alhaji Sumaila elections committee, they have continuously defied National Directives and ran elections with their own rules. Why will constituencies that were scheduled today still not have ballot materials”.
“It is past 2pm and constituencies scheduled for today are unsure whether elections will come on or not with some candidates counting their costs, especially for those that gathered today and may be postponed. I sympathize with all the affected constituencies, Candidates, and aspirants. I urge them to endure and remain resilient and go through this important phase of the party’s program successfully. I am conveying their sentiments to National’.
He said “Whilst they are still in charge, I urge the Alhajiji Sumaila/Jamal Konneh committee to urgently work over the clock or possibly deploy more hands today to print the ballots to prevent the reoccurrence for constituencies that would be holding their conferences tomorrow”.
BY Daniel Bampoe