Residents of Nsawam-Adoagyiri in the Eastern Region have expressed varied views about the current standoff following the 2024 parliamentary elections in the area.
While some of the respondents in interviews with GhanaWeb’s Eastern Regional Correspondent, Michael Oberteye urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct fresh polls in the area, others called for the right thing to be done to ensure that the mandate is given to the right candidate, as their perspectives towards bringing the current impasse to an end.
The collation exercise for the parliamentary election remains inconclusive following disagreements over the exercise. Party supporters affiliated with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reportedly invaded the centre, compelling the team to relocate the collation to Koforidua, the regional capital.
It was gathered that the supporters were again mobilized to the regional collation centre, prompting the Electoral Commissioner and Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to relocate the process to The Tesano Police Training School in Accra.
Five parliamentary candidates including the NPP’s Frank Annoh-Dompreh and the NDC’s Fummey Philibert Amenorpe contested for the seat in the 7th December election.
However, an injunction filed by the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for the area on Friday has put the collation process on hold, leaving the seat with no clear winner in sight.
A source at the Eastern Regional Office of the Electoral Commission recounted the events leading to the current stalemate. According to him, party supporters stormed the Constituency collation centre at Nsawam, forcing Madam Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the EC and Dr. Akuffo Dampare, the IGP to move the exercise to Koforidua from where it was again relocated to Accra following the invasion of the collation centre by supporters of the NDC.
“Our officers were not safe in Nsawam that is why IGP moved it together with the chairperson [Jean Mensa] to Accra, we invited both of them (NDC and NPP) so that we do it there [Nsawam] and they (NDC) say they won’t allow us. The collation was brought to Koforidua, and the same thing happened, the mob came so we couldn’t do it. It was sent to Accra and subsequently injuncted so they couldn’t conclude…wherever they are, when they (NDC) call, they (supporters) come, and within a few minutes the collation centre was full which means you cannot continue, so we’re all waiting for the injunction to be lifted and then we’ll go back,” the source disclosed.
Meanwhile, alleged provisional internal collation results cited by GhanaWeb place the Parliamentary Candidate of the NPP ahead with 29,640 votes against the 29,433 votes obtained by the NDC Candidate.
The three other Candidates including Patrick Tetteh, Mustapha Rasheed and Golo Kojo obtained 95, 81 and 58 votes respectively.
Speaking to GhanaWeb, Abigail a resident of the constituency, urged the electoral commission to ensure that the right thing is done for the deserving candidate to get the mandate. “For the election, I think everything is cool but for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, they should give the thing to the person who has won for peace to come,” said the concerned citizen. “The only thing we want is peace.”
She was of the view that the Electoral Commission (EC) finds itself in this situation because it failed to put in place adequate measures to ensure that the right thing was done.
She equally called on the feuding factions to produce their pink sheets to help the EC arrive at the right results.
Another resident who gave her name as Afia similarly charged the electoral body to ensure that the right thing is done for the right winner to be declared.
She expressed worry over the potential security risks the situation poses to the area, suggesting that the EC either collates the results to determine the winner or conducts fresh elections in the area.
Ray, a lotto forecaster also spoke to GhanaWeb. He called for a rerun of the poll to solve the issue. He pointed out, “If the counting of the ballot papers is bringing confusion between the two candidates, they should go for rerun. If they go for a rerun everything will be clear.”
The situation, he said has put fear into the people with many fearing to step out of their homes.
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