Tuesday morning , Eugene Opoku-Acheampong, the Akwatia Constituency Youth Organiser for the New Patriotic Party was ordered to face the wall and received lashes on the back by a man in military uniform . This was after he’d voted at the Presbyterian School polling station , one of two of the six seen as NPP strongholds.

“I finished voting early and a woman pointed me out as NPP man to a group of soldiers. One of them called me and beat me up for nothing,” he told The Statesman .

An eye witness, Seth Doku, corroborated the story and added, “I am even afraid to go get my old lady to bring her to vote. A lot of our people who came back from Accra to vote turned back for fear of the lives.”

According to Mr Opoku-Acheampong, the four other polling stations in the parliamentary election rerun at the Zongo area of Akwatia have been virtually declared a no go area for the NPP.

“People show up to vote only to find out that their names had already been ticked as having voted! They are stopping people from voting in the Zongo areas and beating up people who venture to vote in the other two polling stations.”

However the NPP is confident of winning. Voter turn out is said to be extremely low and forecast not to be more than 50 percent. But there are fears of ballot box stuffing.

Baba Jamal, the Deputy Regional Minister and candidate for the ruling National Democratic Congress needs more than 75 percent of the maximum 4,000 votes to take the seat. The NPP candidate, Dr Kofi Asare leads with over 3,000 votes in the election which was disrupted in six polling stations on December 7 , compelling the Supreme Court to call for but a limited rerun in only the affected areas.

Checks made by The Statesman indicate that not all the people in military uniforms are indeed soldiers. The soldiers themselves complained of “NDC cadres” in their midst. The cadres are the ones suspected of brutalizing voters.
“The IGP is in town. If the police can guarantee the protection of the ballot boxes then we cannot lose this election. That is our only prayer.”

He, however, warned that the NPP must see this as sign of things to come in the 2012 general elections.

“The NDC are determined to win at all cost. We must take note and be ready for them. We cannot allow them to destroy the integrity of Ghana’s democracy.”

The Akwatia mini-by-election has shown how much the NPP needs to rely and motivate its grassroots for future elections.

A lot of the vigilance and the defence against intimidation has been staged by the grassroots supporters.

Kofi Ansah, a polling station officer , who came to the area to assist, said, “We have been further motivated by the reforms that are coming in. We only hope that our leaders will vote massively to support the transfer of power to the grassroots and see all of us at the polling station executive level taking part in decision-making and choosing who leads us.”

If the proposals for the expansion are carried through at Saturday’s extraordinary conference at the Trade Fair Centre in Accr, the delegates for the election of the NPP Presidential Candidate shall comprise the following:-

i. The National Council
ii. The Executive Committee
iii. The Regional Executive Officers
iv. The Constituency Executive Officers
v. The Electoral Area Coordinators
vi. The five (5) Polling Station Executive Officers in each Constituency

vii. National Council of Elders
viii. All Members of Parliament
ix. Three (3) representatives each of the special organs of the Party

x. Past National Officers
xi. Three representatives from each external branch of the Party

xii. All existing Founding Members during the registration of the Party at the Electoral Commission

xiii. Fifteen Patrons
xiv. One Tescon representative from each recognized tertiary institution

xv. All New Patriotic Party card bearing Ministers when the Party is in power

Source: The Statesman –

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