Seven file to contest Council of State Election in Upper West

A total of seven candidates have filed their nominations to contest the election of the Member of Council of State position to represent the Upper West Region.

The candidates are Kuoro Barecheh Nlowie Baninye II, the Divisional Chief of Niator, Bayon Godfrey Tongu, a former Member of Parliament for Wa East (MP), and Paschal Baylon Dere, a former District Chief Executive (DCE).

Others are Mr Charles Lwanga Puozuing, the Upper West Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Naa Prof. Daniel Anleu-mwine Bagah, a Lecturer at the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS).

The rest are Naa Emmanuel K. Mwinila-Yuori, the Chief of Gbankor and Mr Abubakari Sadik Mohaisen.

The election, which is scheduled to take place on February 12, 2021, will see the 22-member Electoral College cast their ballots to elect one person among the seven candidates to represent the region at the Council of State.

Mr Emmanuel Kyei, the Deputy Upper West Regional Director of the Electoral Commission said the candidates’ nomination forms had already been submitted to the head office of the Commission in Accra.

He urged candidates to go about their campaign lawfully to ensure a smooth electoral process come February 12, 2021, adding that the security of the election was guaranteed.

Meanwhile, some Assembly members including the Assemblymember for Kperisi Electoral Area, Mr James Kuunsaana Donkor, have begun raising concerns over the manner in which Assembly members were selected to form the Electoral College.

In an objection letter addressed to the Municipal Office of the EC, Mr Donkor stated emphatically that there was no meeting of the Assembly to build consensus or elect persons to represent members at the impending Council of State Elections.

“The Law requires that there should be a meeting at which a consensus is reached or failing, which an election is conducted among members so that the person(s) who wins will represent the Assembly”, he said.

The Kperisi Assemblymember noted that Mr Abdul-Rahman Topie Karim and Adams Mahamood Mumuni were not selected through due process and therefore did not qualify per the law to represent the Wa Municipal Assembly as delegates in the impending Council of State election.

“I, therefore, object to their wrongful selection and representation and further calls for the right process to be applied in keeping with the laid down procedure in accordance with the law”, Mr Donkor said.