By Nicholas Osei-Wusu, EJISU
Voting is underway in today’s Parliamentary By-Election in the Ejisu Constituency in the Ashanti region.
The Ejisu Constituency was created in the lead up to the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary polls from the then Ejisu-Juaben Constituency.
It has a voter population of more than 106, 800 with 204 voting Centres. It is traditionally a stronghold of the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP.
Today’s By-Election has become a constitutional imperative following the death of the incumbent MP, Dr. John Ampontua Kumah, on 7th March, 2024 after visiting the Constituency for the Independence Day celebration. He was a Deputy Minister of Finance at the time of his death.
Voting began at 7 a.m. at all the Centre’s visited by our Regional Correspondent at Ejisu, Onwe and Besease.
Interactions with both Election officials and candidate Agents at those voting Centres indicated there had not been any challenge with the process at the time of the visit with voting logistics and personnel readily available.
At all the cntres visited, only the NPP’s Candidate, Lawyer Kwabena Boateng, and Engineer Kwabena Owusu Aduomi, one of the Independent Candidates, had Agents monitoring the exercise without of the other four having anyone to cater for their respective interest.
GBC observed a trend at all the Centres visited that, unlike the common situation where voters rush in their numbers to exercise their franchise at the start of polls in such elections over the years, no visible signs of queues of voters were seen except two stations where less than eight persons could be seen waiting for their turns to vote. The common observation was voters coming in singles to vote without encountering difficulties with the voting process.
However, at one of the Voting Centres at the Besease R/C premises, both Agents for Engineer Aduomi and the Presiding Officer confirmed that some persons found within the vicinity of the voting centre seen sharing money to prospective voters, had been formally reported to the Police for investigation and action.
Meanwhile, there is a very high security presence with the Police very visible across the Constituency with the voting centre having a minimum of two Police officers while teams are criss-crossing the entire Constituency to ensure nothing untoward occurs.
