Accra, Dec. 30, GNA – Voting in the district level elections is
proceeding smoothly in various polling stations across Accra
although turnout is generally low, according to various GNA
reporters who are touring the city. Many residents at Kanda, Nima, Pig farm, Dzowulu, Maamobi
and Roman Ridge in the Ayawaso Central and Ayawaso East
constituencies were seen going about their daily duties without
bothering to go and vote.
They told the GNA that lack of publicity and the uncertainties of
the vote had caused apathy among the electorate. At the Nima 1 JSS only one out of 705 expected voters had cast
his vote as at 0745 hours, although voting started promptly at 0700. At the Kanda Estate 2 &3 Primary School Polling Station, only
10 out of 748 potential voters had cast their ballots at 0715 hours. Voting at Pig Farm in Ayawaso Central started at 0900 hours. At
the Apostles Revelation Society polling station at Pig Farm, the
presiding officer told the GNA that voting materials did not arrive
early.
Mr Prince Tamakloe Quarshie, a candidate in the Kotobabi
electoral area District Assembly, said the collation centre received
the voting materials at 0100 hours on Thursday and as at 0915, only
2 out of 1,585 voters had cast their ballots The situation was not different at King of Kings International
School at Dzowulu where 31 people had voted out of the 1,544 at
At the Ngleshie Amanfro electoral area in the Weija Constituency,
turnout was low. The Presiding officer at the Taxi Rank polling centre, Mr Robert
Nyamalor, said voting materials arrived at 0700 hours and voting
started at 0730. He attributed the low turnout to the earlier
postponements of the voting which had discouraged many people
from coming out to vote. “We hope that people will come out in their numbers to vote
during the day as many people have gone to work and markets,” he
said.
At the 31st December Day Care, it was detected that a voters’
register with number 1-36 was missing. The presiding officer, Ms Shaban Samiratu, told GNA that she
had reported the matter to the District Returning Officer and had
asked that the ID and polling station numbers of the affected people
should be written down and voters allowed to cast their ballots. The agents of the various aspirants initially objected to this
suggestion and demanded the cancellation of voting at that centre,
but the matter was sorted out at by 0945, voting was proceeding
smoothly. Mr Alex Nyatuame Sena, a candidate in the District Assembly
election, told the GNA that apart from the missing booklet,
everything was moving smoothly and he expressed the hope that the
election would be free and fair election. At the Amanfro DC primary School polling centre, only 15
people had voted at 0830 hours out of 1,139 registered voters. Mr Cornelius Ahiakpor, the presiding officer, said he received
voting material at 0630 and by 0730 voting had started and
expressed the hope that turnout would increase by midday. The DC JSS polling centre recorded 30 out of 1813 registered
voters as at 0830 hours. Ms Florence Sarpong, Deputy returning officer, told GNA that voting materials arrived at 0645 at voting stated at 0730 hours.
Source: GhanaWeb
