Ernest Yaw Anim, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate for the Kumawu by-elections, slammed his NDC opponent, telling him to not gripe about people being bussed to the polls to cast their ballots.
He stated that because the by-election is so critical to the future of the Kumawu Constituency, he should get involved to encourage his supporters to cast their ballots.
In order to encourage voters to participate in the ongoing by-elections, Mr. Yaw Anim has been moving from house to house.
However, the NDC candidate, Kwasi Amankwaa, is accusing his rival of purchasing votes and even taking elderly voters and mentally ill people to the polls, where they almost always cast their votes for the NPP
The NPP candidate said that Kwasi Amankwaa is merely acting out, due to the probable defeat.
“Those are the tantrums of a losing candidate…He can equally do same. He can go and get old people into taxis and buses and bring them to the polling station. Nobody stops him from doing that. We are trying to get everybody to be part of the process.”
Ernest Yaw Anim
Kwasi Amankwaa of the NDC has since reported the incident to both the Ghana Police Service and the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC).
70-Year-Old Blind Woman Accuses EC Of Trickery
In the ongoing by-election in Kumawu in the Ashanti Region, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) charged an electoral officer for “forcing” an elderly woman to cast a ballot against her will.
According to reports, a woman in her 70’s who is ‘visually handicapped’ claimed that she was forced to submit the erroneous ballot at the Methodist JHS 2 polling station in Kumawu, after asking an election official to direct her. She stressed that the candidate is number 1 on the ballot and urged the officer to assist her in casting her vote for the one who had an “Umbrella” sign on it, according to the reports.
However, the confusion is that the candidate who is number 1 on the ballot paper is a New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, whose symbol is an ‘Elephant’, while the candidate with ‘Umbrella’ symbol is contesting on the ticket of the NDCas number 2 on the ballot paper.
She informed NDC polling agents that the Electoral Officer had allegedly conned her into casting a ballot against the NDC candidate. As a result, there is now a severe dispute between the NDC leaders and the Electoral Commission.
More Police Officers Deployed To Enhance Security
In order to prevent any potential incidents during the current by-election, the Police Command at Kumawu in the Ashanti Region sent out extra troops to patrol the various communities.
In order to provide backup for the people already manning the polling places, more than 500 police officers who were on standby at the District Headquarters were dispersed to different zones. They were placed in key locations to carry out tasks, as directed by their commanders to ensure security and a free election.
The Director of Operations for the election, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Abass Aremeyao, was observed giving directions to the staff when they arrived at their assigned job stations. He remarked that the process had gone smoothly so far and gave the assurance that security would not be compromised in order to ensure the security of all parties involved, up until the conclusion of the voting.
With at least five officers stationed at each center, security at the numerous polling stations has been remarkable.
More than 33,000 registered voters are to cast their ballot at 75 polling stations across the constituency to elect a new MP.
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