THE rerun of the December 8, 2008 parliamentary election at six polling stations at Akwatia in the Akwatia Constituency in the Eastern Region now belongs to history.
The election, which was first held on December 8, last year, had to be re-run because of the seizure of ballot boxes by some aggrieved persons from the six polling stations, namely Yoruba Mosque ‘A’, Yoruba Mosque ‘B’, Lorry Station ‘A’, Lorry Station ‘B’, Presby JSS and AME Zion Church.
The situation made it impossible for the Electoral Commission (EC) to declare the results. Due to the problem, the Akwatia Constituency has not had a representative in Parliament for the past eight months.
The matter initially went to a High Court at Koforidua which ruled that the rerun should be held in all the polling stations in the constituency but that order was later quashed by the Supreme Court, which ordered a rerun at the six polling stations.
Although five persons, namely Dr Kofi Asare of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Basil Ahiable, an independent candidate, Samuel Adjei of the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP) and Mr Samuel Abrokwa, another independent candidate, competed for the Akwatia parliamentary seat, it was a straight fight between Baba Jamal and Dr Kofi Asare. Dr Asare eventually won the day.
Although Dr Asare had 1,011 votes at the six polling stations which were less than half of Baba Jamal’s 2,044 in the re-run on August 18, 2009, the NPP candidate was declared the winner.
That was because he had obtained 16,889 in the December 8, 2008 elections in the remaining 83 polling stations which together with the 1,011 put his total votes at 17,900 as against Baba Jamal’s total votes of 15,854, made up of 13,810 obtained on December 8 and the 2,044 secured on August 18.
The whole event, starting from December 8, 2008 and ending on August 18, 2009, was characterised by mistrust, acrimony, rancour and confusion among supporters of the NDC and the NPP, leading to violence on Saturday, August 15 during which four persons were slashed with machetes and had to be sent to the St Dominic Hospital in the town.
The violence continued the next day, August 16, and armed policemen had to fire tear gas to disperse supporters of the two political parties who had massed up on the streets between their offices which are almost within the same vicinity of the town for a showdown.
At the end of the disturbances, which lasted for about 15 minutes, some of the supporters and executive from both sides sustained various degrees of injury, while some vehicles had their windscreens smashed and bodies dented.
While the General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Ohene Ntow, was hit in the face and bled from the nostrils, Baba Jamal, who was with some newsmen in the NDC constituency office, had to be escorted to safety.
In all, about 20 persons from both sides sustained various degrees of injury from punches and machetes.
To maintain the peace, the Ministry of the Interior had to impose a dust-to-dawn curfew on Akwatia and its environs, while the Eastern Regional Security Committee also called for the postponement of the rerun, explaining that it could not guarantee the safety of the voters.
However, President John Evans Atta Mills came out with an assurance of adequate security for the voters for the event to come off as scheduled.
In line with the President’s assurance, hundreds of policemen and some soldiers, all in riot-control gear, were positioned at the six polling stations and other vantage points in the town while all vehicles entering the area were checked for arms and other offensive weapons.
The heavy security presence virtually turned the town to a battle zone, so a number of voters initially decided to stay away from voting in the morning, making it possible for impostors to vote in their names.
Some of the impostors, numbering about 30 who were identified in their attempts to vote, were, however, not arrested but were only warned by security personnel and officials of the EC led by its Deputy Commissioner, Mr David Kanga.
Realising the tension that had engulfed the polling stations and the possibility of violence between supporters of the NDC and the NPP, the national leadership of the two parties quickly met behind closed doors and decided to jointly organise a walk to all the six polling stations.
The initiative, dubbed “Peace Walk”, was to demonstrate to the voters that there was no animosity or acrimony between the executives of the two parties and as such, they should consider themselves as one people but with different thinking to vote freely and elect a candidate of their choice.
Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketsia, the General Secretary of the NDC, and Mr Peter Mac Manu, the National Chairman of the NPP, led the group holding each other’s hand which was occasionally placed on the other’s shoulders amidst jokes and laughter in a friendly manner.
Other members of the Peace Walk were the General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Ohene Ntow, the National Chairman of the NDC, Dr Kwabena Adjei, and a number of MPs from both sides who were later on joined by the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo.
Mr Ampofo, who is also the National Organiser of the NDC, expressed his appreciation to his colleagues for organising the peace walk, which, according to him, had calmed down tension at Akwatia and made it possible for voters to exercise their franchise in a peaceful manner.
Although the Akwatia Constituency rerun parliamentary election was successful and Dr Kofi Asare of the NPP got the mandate of the people to represent them in Parliament, the decision of Baba Jamal, his defeated opponent, to go to court over alleged malpractice at some polling stations, especially at Akyem Wenchi, the home town of Dr Kofi Asare, has pointed out clearly that the embers of the election at Akwatia had not yet been quenched.
It is, however, the hope that the issue would be resolved amicably to give Akwatia, a diamond-mining centre with people from different ethnic backgrounds living with the Akyems, the landowners, who form the majority, the peace it needs for its development.
No comments:
Post a Comment