Presiding officer clarifies Dumelo voting incident

Presiding officers in charge of the GIMPA polling station A and B have clarified some controversies which erupted in the early hours of the election day which delayed the process for some 20 minutes.

It was reported that the aspiring member of parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dumelo had called for a halt in the voting process over concerns that the EC had failed to add indelible ink to the electoral materials.

John Dumelo was reported to have expressed disappointment over the EC official’s decision to allow electorates to cast their ballot even though the indelible ink was not available at the start of polls.

He is quoted to have said; “I’m disappointed in the process. We don’t have indelible ink here, and they are allowing the process to continue, which is wrong. I suggest that they stop the whole process, let them get the ink before we continue. The indelible ink is the only way to show that you’ve been able to vote.”

But the Presiding officer of Polling station B, Johnathan Kwame explained to GhanaWeb TV that Mr Dumelo was not the only party individual to complain about the issue.

He stated that all party executives who were present at the polling station raised concerns over the unavailability of the indelible ink.

However, he added that they improvised for some few minutes after which EC brought the indelible ink they requested.

“We now have the indelible ink it’s not that we didn’t have it’s just that it didn’t come in the ballot box. I want to put on record, the ink didn’t come in the ballot box. The first two people that voted they didn’t use the ink but I improvised, I used the stamp pad ink,” Mr Jonathan Kwame said.

Adding that the voter turnout at noon was commendable.