TWO CONSTITUENCIES – Nkoranza North and South in the Brong-Ahafo Region – were exempted from voting in yesterday’s district level elections. This was because the people in these constituencies had threatened the Electoral Commission officials in the region with juju and dared them not to come there for the exercise.
Their threat followed the Bank of Ghana’s placing of a moratorium on DKM Micro Finance – a non-bank institution where most of them had put their moneys.
However, the deputy EC director in the region, Samuel Boadu, speaking to DAILY GUIDE, said apart from the two constituencies, voting was going on in the other constituencies.
About six polling stations monitored at Atebubu and Amanten showed long queues. DAILY GUIDE’S monitoring from Atebubu Amanten constituency indicated that voter turnout was encouraging, contrary to fears that it would to be low as in previous elections.
As at 9:20, 68 people out of 681 had cast their votes at the Atebubu Demonstration Primary School. According to the electoral officer, Francis Yeboah, one person was turned away because his name appeared twice in the voter register. Verification machines and indelible ink were all in place and the police were also doing their monitoring.
Also at the Anglican Primary School as at 9:30 am, 79 voters had cast their votes out of 804 registered voters. At Amanten Ahinbronusu D/A Primary School, as at 11:15 am, 157 out of 737 had voted.
But there was heavy security presence in the area because according to information gathered, there is serious chieftaincy problem in the community and so the polling stations had to be protected.
DAILY GUIDE spoke to the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, who was also monitoring the elections. He rated the turnout as at 11am as 20%. He encouraged people to come out in their numbers to vote for the right people to let the decentralization policy work effectively.
danielyawdayee@yahoo.com
From Daniel Yao Dayee, Sunyani