Yesterday, by close of work, the finger pointing had started.
The District Level Elections had ended up in a mess!
Most people went about their day's activities as if nothing as momentous as local elections was taking place.
To compound issues, those who were desirous of voting discovered to their discomfiture that no voting material was available at their polling stations.
The National Electoral Commission had all along been assuring Ghanaians that the it had matters in hand. On Monday night barely 24 hours to the opening of the polling stations the Commission put out a statement that in addition to the areas under the state of emergency, other districts would not be voting due to the unavailability of ballot papers and other inputs.
This took even the Ministry of Local Government by surprise, which all along had received assurances that all was well.
In an interview, the Deputy Minister for Local Government, Hon. Effah-Dartey, MP, Brekum said the Commission had reported in a meeting that all was going well and reports from the regions seemed to confirm that assurance, and so when the Commission came out with a statement saying the elections could not take place simultaneously nationwide, they were taken aback. However, he said in his rounds in the nation's capital where the voting did take place, he saw orderly queues. It was only at one place where he witnessed some disagreements due to the use of questionable ID cards.
He told The Accra Daily Mail that he would say the polls were a "qualified success". Others however may find that too optimistic and categorise the polls as one messy affair. After one postponement, the Commission could not get its act together to organise the elections.
The Deputy Minister explained that electoral matters are the constitutional responsibility of the Electoral Commission and no other institution has the right to interfere.
Ironically, NEC's fiasco comes only a few days after the Vice President's impassioned call for Ghanaians to exercise greater discipline.
Ghana has provided ballot papers for elections in war-torn Liberia and Sierra Leone. These have been delivered ahead of schedule and those elections went off without any hitch. What could have happened this time?
Since NEC is an independent institution and cannot be interfered with, the Chairman, Dr. Afari Djan must be held responsible. This mess is serious enough for him to honourably tender his resignation
Reports indicate that the elections did not start on time and most people did not bother to vote at all. When our news team went round some parts of the city to monitor the elections the normal practice of long queues was absent and presiding officials were virtually on holiday.
People interviewed attributed the poor attendance to inadequate public education on the importance of the elections and poor public relations done by the National Electoral Commission. Others did not find it necessary to go and vote, and general public opinion blamed the Electoral Commission for a shoddy work done.
A GBC news item monitored by The Accra Daily Mail said in some parts of the country some candidates had their pictures appearing twice on a ballot paper. Others complained that the pictures used on the ballot papers were different from those displayed on the final posters by the National Electoral Commission.
GNA reports reaching ADM talk of widespread confusion and dissatisfaction. Space will not allow for the cataloguing of all the complaints and mishaps. But electorate at the Ablekuma North Electoral Area where the District Assembly Elections were postponed yesterday threatened to boycott the election slated for August 13.
They told the GNA that they lack faith in the Electoral Commission (EC) for disappointing and wasting their time in its failure in printing ballot papers for some of the areas leading to the postponement.
Some said they did not know who to vote for because they did not know the candidates.
Most residents at Kwashieman and Odorkor did not hide their anger and disappointment accusing the EC of incompetence and claimed that they did not hear the announcement on the postponement of the elections to prevent them from coming to queue only to be told the voting was not taking place in the area.
Some of the electorate queued as early as 6:00 am only to be told that voting had been postponed to a later date.
A resident at Kwashieman, suggested that next time round the EC should encourage candidates to campaign vigorously and create enough awareness before the mounting of platforms so that people would be well informed about the candidates.
She complained about the inadequacy of posters of the candidates and other EC information materials to inform electorate on the election.
When ADM called the Electoral Commission for the situation report at late afternoon yesterday, there was no one to talk to, as all the officials were "on the field monitoring the elections".
Who answers for this mess?
Yesterday, by close of work, the finger pointing had started.
The District Level Elections had ended up in a mess!
Most people went about their day's activities as if nothing as momentous as local elections was taking place.
To compound issues, those who were desirous of voting discovered to their discomfiture that no voting material was available at their polling stations.
The National Electoral Commission had all along been assuring Ghanaians that the it had matters in hand. On Monday night barely 24 hours to the opening of the polling stations the Commission put out a statement that in addition to the areas under the state of emergency, other districts would not be voting due to the unavailability of ballot papers and other inputs.
This took even the Ministry of Local Government by surprise, which all along had received assurances that all was well.
In an interview, the Deputy Minister for Local Government, Hon. Effah-Dartey, MP, Brekum said the Commission had reported in a meeting that all was going well and reports from the regions seemed to confirm that assurance, and so when the Commission came out with a statement saying the elections could not take place simultaneously nationwide, they were taken aback. However, he said in his rounds in the nation's capital where the voting did take place, he saw orderly queues. It was only at one place where he witnessed some disagreements due to the use of questionable ID cards.
He told The Accra Daily Mail that he would say the polls were a "qualified success". Others however may find that too optimistic and categorise the polls as one messy affair. After one postponement, the Commission could not get its act together to organise the elections.
The Deputy Minister explained that electoral matters are the constitutional responsibility of the Electoral Commission and no other institution has the right to interfere.
Ironically, NEC's fiasco comes only a few days after the Vice President's impassioned call for Ghanaians to exercise greater discipline.
Ghana has provided ballot papers for elections in war-torn Liberia and Sierra Leone. These have been delivered ahead of schedule and those elections went off without any hitch. What could have happened this time?
Since NEC is an independent institution and cannot be interfered with, the Chairman, Dr. Afari Djan must be held responsible. This mess is serious enough for him to honourably tender his resignation
Reports indicate that the elections did not start on time and most people did not bother to vote at all. When our news team went round some parts of the city to monitor the elections the normal practice of long queues was absent and presiding officials were virtually on holiday.
People interviewed attributed the poor attendance to inadequate public education on the importance of the elections and poor public relations done by the National Electoral Commission. Others did not find it necessary to go and vote, and general public opinion blamed the Electoral Commission for a shoddy work done.
A GBC news item monitored by The Accra Daily Mail said in some parts of the country some candidates had their pictures appearing twice on a ballot paper. Others complained that the pictures used on the ballot papers were different from those displayed on the final posters by the National Electoral Commission.
GNA reports reaching ADM talk of widespread confusion and dissatisfaction. Space will not allow for the cataloguing of all the complaints and mishaps. But electorate at the Ablekuma North Electoral Area where the District Assembly Elections were postponed yesterday threatened to boycott the election slated for August 13.
They told the GNA that they lack faith in the Electoral Commission (EC) for disappointing and wasting their time in its failure in printing ballot papers for some of the areas leading to the postponement.
Some said they did not know who to vote for because they did not know the candidates.
Most residents at Kwashieman and Odorkor did not hide their anger and disappointment accusing the EC of incompetence and claimed that they did not hear the announcement on the postponement of the elections to prevent them from coming to queue only to be told the voting was not taking place in the area.
Some of the electorate queued as early as 6:00 am only to be told that voting had been postponed to a later date.
A resident at Kwashieman, suggested that next time round the EC should encourage candidates to campaign vigorously and create enough awareness before the mounting of platforms so that people would be well informed about the candidates.
She complained about the inadequacy of posters of the candidates and other EC information materials to inform electorate on the election.
When ADM called the Electoral Commission for the situation report at late afternoon yesterday, there was no one to talk to, as all the officials were "on the field monitoring the elections".
Who answers for this mess?
