Aspirant says EC should compensate them

A 39-year-old sound and mobile phone technician who filed his papers to contest as an assembly member for the Awoshie Electoral Area in the botched district assembly elections has appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to consider compensating all those who filed to contest.

That, according to Mr. Kwabena Asiamah who has decided to re-enter the race anytime the EC re-opens nominations in accordance with the recent Supreme Court ruling on the district assemblies elections, would forestall any intended court actions by individuals who might feel aggrieved.

What happened, he said, was not through any fault of theirs but as a result of sheer negligence on the part of the EC and they must be made to pay for it.

Mr. Asiamah told the GNA in an interview that as other aspirants, he spent a lot of money printing posters and travelling across the length and breadth of his electoral area marketing himself and he should therefore not be made to suffer unduly through the fault of the EC.

Recounting how he had to struggle to raise funds to carry out his campaign, the aspirant said he did not receive any funding from anywhere and had to use his own resources.

The situation as it stands now, he said, is that he would have to look for additional funds to campaign again.

Elections at any level, Mr. Asiamah said, involved a lot and was of the view that what the EC did was unpardonable and should therefore be made to face the music.

The EC, he said, should from now on learn to listen to sound advice and take steps to do the right thing at all times in order not to create any confusion in the future.

Mr. Asiamah said his major priorities when given the nod would be the improvement of security, sanitation and the road network and drainage system among others at Awoshie.

Mr. Asiamah said he was abreast with the major problems facing the electoral area having lived there for about 32 years and would therefore be in a pole position to help solve them when given the chance.

Awoshie Electoral Area, he said, had poor drainage system and a lot of the areas got flooded anytime it rained.

Mr. Asiamah said he would therefore lobbythe Ablekuma North-Sub Metro and the Member of Parliament for the area in order to get the problem addressed.

Mr. Asiamah mentioned Faithway, Toronto Hotel, McCarthy Hill JHS and Awoshie Adaamaame as some of the places which had very serious drainage problems that would need attention.

One major concern he had identified in the area he alleged, was the poor collection of garbage.

Mr. Asiamah also mentioned that a public toilet project at Awoshie under construction which had been abandoned would be revived and completed to prevent people from indiscriminately defecating.

A broken bridge, which links Awoshie to A-Lang he said, would also be rehabilitated to alleviate the plight of residents there as a result of perennial flooding of the area.

He said a foreign non-governmental organization (NGO), he said, was prepared to assist him acquire a community ambulance for the area whilst a local NGO was also ready to sponsor him to organize an entrepreneurship and career counselling programme for the youth at Awoshie.

Mr. Asiamah also promised he would pay for the registration of National Health Insurance cards for the aged in the area if given the nod to become the assembly member for the area.