₦airaland Forum

ension as Ghana fails to declare president 31/12/2008

Bolade Omonijo

AFTER a marathon meeting of Ghana Electoral Commission (EC) officials and leaders of the two parties that participated in last Sunday’s presidential election run-off, the commission yesterday announced that the result could not be released until fresh polls are conducted in Tain constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region.
EC Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, who addressed a press conference at 5.00 pm (6p.m. Nigerian time), announced that the commission was unable to declare the president as he had already promised because a clear winner had not emerged on account of the outstanding results from Tain and investigations into allegations by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that figures from the Ashanti region had been tampered with. The NDC also complained about the conduct of the election.

The press conference scheduled for 12 noon was held five hours later as the EC made efforts to douse tension by building a consensus.

While announcing that the Tain election had been rescheduled for Friday, Dr. Afari-Gyan told the well attended press conference that the result from the remaining 229 constituencies showed that Prof. John Atta-Mills of the NDC had a narrow lead over his New Patriotic Party (NPP), opponent, Nana Akuffo-Addo.

Afari-Gyan said Akufo-Addo obtained 4,478,411 votes, representing 49.87 per cent of the total votes cast. Atta-Mills scored 4,501,466 or 50.13 per cent.

The EC chairman said: "Serious concerns have been raised over election results in Kumasi in particular and other parts of the Ashanti Region in general.

"The NPP also raised concerns over results from Volta Region.

"We have always said that the name of the game is evidence. The NDC provided some evidence to warrant audit of some of the results from Ashanti. The NPP also has promised to provide some evidence in respect of the Volta Region.

As a result of our inability to resolve some of these issues, in view of the closeness of the result, we have decided to postpone the declaration of the winner.

"We have collated results from 229 out of the 230 constituencies and the results are as follows: Nana Akufo-Addo - 4,478,411 of NPP and Prof Atta-Mills of NDC- 4,501,466."

A source close to the EC had said it wanted to go ahead with the declaration but the NPP candidate’s agents insisted that the election for Tain that was disrupted last Sunday must be conducted to establish the undisputed winner.

Tain is a swing constituency. It has about 55,000 voters on the electoral register and, in the first round, about 32,000 votes were cast with Prof Atta-Mills obtaining 16,211. Akufo-Addo 14,935. Four years earlier, the NPP candidate, President John Kuffour, obtained 16,308 votes. Atta-Mills had 14,792.

By the official result announced by the EC, Atta-Mills was in the lead by about 23,055 votes. If the same number of voters turns up at the polls on Friday, and given the existing pattern, it may be difficult for the NPP to upstage the NDC.

Representatives of NDC, who stormed the press conference, insisted that the EC was playing the ruling NPP’s game. The former Deputy Defence Minister, Dr. Tony Aidoo, said the EC was buying time for the NPP.

There were fears of possible breakdown of law and order as major streets of Accra were taken over by street urchins, popularly called "macho boys", and party faithful. They moved about in hired buses. A crowd was chanting war songs, abusing the government and the ruling party.

One of the party representatives who attended the meeting in the EC office and the press conference shouted that the country would be made ungovernable "if the will of the people is thwarted." He said that it was obvious that Atta-Mills had won and nothing should change that.

But, earlier, President Kuffour had personally signed a statement appealing for calm.

He said: "It has come to the attention of government that whilst the Independent Electoral Commission is engaged in its constitutional function of managing the run-off of the Presidential Election, some members of the public, particularly of the two contesting parties, are displaying extreme impatience and thereby causing unnecessary tension throughout the country.

"Some sections of the media are also not helping by peddling unauthorised figures, which could prove wrong as some have.

"Whilst government appreciates the great passion with which the entire nation is awaiting the outcome of the event, I wish to appeal to all Ghanaians, especially the supporters of the NPP and the NDC, to remain calm and wait patiently for the declaration of the result by the Electoral Commission, which alone has the constitutional mandate to undertake that function.

"Your total cooperation in this respect will ensure that the peace and security of the nation are not undermined."

There were fears yesterday that the stalemate could lead to a constitutional crisis, and if it is not well-handled, could lead to breakdown of law and order.

Military and police presence was heavy on the streets of Accra as four armoured personnel carriers were stationed at strategic points around the electoral body’s headquarters. Everybody coming into the building was thoroughly frisked by stern-looking security officials. Every floor in the building had military and police officers who monitored development.

By law and convention, the tenure of the incumbent president will expire next Wednesday. Since fresh election is coming up on Friday and the result may not be in before Saturday, the earliest time that the winner of the election would be known is Sunday, barely three days before the hand over.

There are also pending allegations involving Ashanti and Volta regions. If the truth of any of the charges is established, there may be need for fresh voting in the affected constituencies or polling stations, further keeping the country in suspense.

Besides, if either party or candidate feels sufficiently aggrieved to take the matter to court, there may be little time for the judiciary to intervene and resolve the dispute.

The polls had been hailed by foreign and domestic observers as "generally free and fair".

Ahead of Friday’s election in Tain constituency, the campaign organisations of the two candidates have swung into action.

The communications Director of the Atta-Mills campaign, organisation Mr Alan Kerematen, called on Akufo-Addo, to save the country the pangs of waiting for the Tain result.

Explaining that there was tension and fatigue already, Kerematen said it was obvious that his party’s candidate had won, so Akufo-Addo should concede defeat immediately.

But the Communications Director of the Akufo-Addo campaign Arthur Kennedy, ruled out that line of action. He said his party would concentrate attention on the Tain contest.

Kennedy called on the EC to expedite action on probing the figures returned from the Volta Region.

http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=73799

As a child i wanted to be a pilot cos i loved traveling,
Then while growing up i wanted to be a soldier,
Towards the end of sec sch i wanted to be an architect,
but today i'm an Engineer.

Things,goals and aspirations change.

Moves:
this guy nawa for u ooo,  thats unconfirmed story naa, And this girl will be too hot for Obj to handle anyway

u will be shocked at wat that randy old man can handle

pay day

[quote author=Xavier. link=topic=213312.msg3290047#msg3290047 date=1230730185]Muza

Kindly adjust the setting on ur hausa translating keyboard, it is malfunctioning again


P.S Incase u don't know, Muza can write in English, he has a machine that allows him type in Hausa then brings the output in English. The machine was specially designed by a chinese firm for PTDF. Auwal uses the same machine.[/quote]u are one hell of a clown,
perhaps u should start ur own Night of a Billion laughs.

[quote author=gbenga_tk link=topic=207412.msg3289053#msg3289053 date=1230713308]sony laptops r very very durable.the only issue is price.sony is for the people that wants to combine perfomance with style,[/quote]I feel u

cabali:
Sony vaio is actually one of great design but still doesnt come close to the mac.

Apple make great pcs but the marketing hype and not performance makes them ahead of the others

Thread = wishful thinking = pipe dream = rubbish

Why is gov against the panel,when he has not shown any sign of setting one himself.
Amid all the violence and the killings he wanted to swear in the local govt chair not until he was stopped by our ailing presido.
Like it or not,Jang has skeletons in his closet.
Time will tell.

But sha me i pity the girl,remember wat happened to mojisola

Shekarau munafuki ne

but before u can check them out,you have to become a Fan of Al-Zaidi a.k.a The shoe Legend.

O Boy! https://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-happy-smileys-819.gif

Prevention! https://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-happy-smileys-819.gif https://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-happy-smileys-819.gif

now we know who the mercenaries are now that the gov is scared of a panel of inquiry from the federal govt.
He had wanted to set up his own "panel" and dictate wat they will do.

Ghanaians are Africans after all

Ribadu?
Why?
*** ^hisses ***

The middle east criss will be resolved when the U.S,U.N and the rest of the world stop being biased.

davidylan:
Muza were did you get those from?

facebook

Send forth party https://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-happy-smileys-819.gif
This bush is the worst US presido

just another useless bureaucracy

Training Ground https://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-happy-smileys-819.gif

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Jairzinho:
I think I need to correct any wrong impressions people may have. I am certainly not a tribalist,neither do I believe one tribe is the main cause of Nigeria's problems.(though I still believe the Emirs are a major part of the problem because they can change things).

I just need to put that out.

No tribe is 'better' than the other.

u just contradicted urself with that sentence,U ar a conc bigot

My man of the year is Muntadhir Al-Zaidi A.K.A The Shoe Legend

wonders will never end.
this mudafucka definately has smthin to hide!
Jang,might even have been the mastermind of the whole thin.
The FG should get to the root of the matter.

Igwe,i hav just come to a conclusion that u are one big fool that will never come out of his ignorance and bigotry.

the travails of OBJ boyz just shows that the world is round after all.

@ poster,
wat are u talkin about?
Do u mean we should give him a third term,cos u know its only death that will stop him from the second.

they have failed woefully,
the only debate seriously when it affects their salary,welfare, allowance. . .etc
A bunch of selfish human beings kawai.

@ poster,
If only wishes were horses,even u will ride

iceblue:
it's obvious what's going on here. someone's jealous that these guys get all the creme nairaland chics and they can't get any to say hi to them

BIIIIFFFFFF!!!!!!! Don't hate the player, hate the game

tpia, debosky, brash - nothing do una jare.

i mean, we all know that the NL baboons are peeps like superogi here, bacterium, otondo and the likes. Shior.

I can see that nobody has noticed and say hi to u.
Are u jealous of those chicks that get the hot guyz

Free the Legend!