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The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ellembelle District in the Western Region, Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh’s eligibility has been challenged in the on-going voters’ registration exercise at Awiebo Junction Registration Center.
Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh who is also the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate, on Saturday, August 1, 2020, went to the center to register as a voter which will help him to contest in the coming parliamentary elections in the Constituency, but an NDC registration agent, Mr. Solomon Isaac picked a challenge form and challenged him (Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh).
Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh had been challenged on grounds that he is not a resident or ordinary resident.
Reasons why a person can be challenged according to Electoral Commission’s Electoral Laws
A person’s application for registration may be challenged on the grounds that he or she; is not a Ghanaian, is below 18 years of age, is of unsound mind, is not resident or ordinary resident in the Electoral Area where he or she seeks to register and he or she is already a register voter.
However, ordinary resident means he or she must have resided in the Electoral Area for a period of 12 months before the day of registration.
In an exclusive interview with the challenger, Mr. Solomon Isaac said he challenged the Ellembelle DCE for not residing with them for so many years.
He also intimated that the DCE had not been voting at Awiebo since the inception of the fourth Republic.
“Hon. Kwasi Bonzoh doesn’t stay here, on record our DCE Kwasi Bonzoh has never voted in any public Election here so when I saw him washing his hands at where the EC has stationed the Veronica bucket, I quickly approached him after in a respectful manner and asked him his mission and he told me that he is here to register and I asked him Hon Bonzoh I hope you are not a resident here so the law doesn’t permit you to register and he Hon Bonzoh told me to challenge him and he even asked the registration officers to give me a form to challenge him and I did exactly so”, he stated.
But speaking to the challenged applicant, Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh, he denied of being approached by his challenger.
He stated, “it is not true, the NDC agent didn’t approach me, I just saw him picking a challenge form”.
The NPP parliamentary candidate whose fate lies in the hands of the Ellembelle District Registration Review Committee, had accused the NDC Constituency Chairman, Alex Mahama of planning with the agent (challenger) to challenge him for being a voter.
“My brother, this is ridiculous, the NDC people planned it, their Constituency Chairman is behind it because I met him at the center and earlier I had an information that the NDC was going to challenge me so I asked the NDC Chairman at the center and he denied and left the center and because they had planned already so when the chairman left, still the NDC agent challenged me. I hail from Awiebo, my father is still alive, he is still at Awiebo so I have the right to register there”, Ellembelle DCE stated.
Admittedly, the Ellembelle DCE Kwasi Bonzoh said he had not registered and voted at Awiebo before.
“It is true, I have not registered and voted at Awiebo before but my comes from there, I have been registering and voting at Esiama but this time around I thought it wise to register and vote at my father’s hometown”.
In a quick response, the NDC agent Solomon Isaac emphasized that he was not asked by any NDC member to challenge the DCE as he had been alleged.
“In fact, no NDC member planned with me to challenge the DCE, I challenged him based on the Electoral law governing this registration exercise so the DCE must stop accusing any NDC member because I took an independent decision”.
Speaking to the NDC Constituency Chairman Mr. Alex Mahama, he denied any knowledge of having engineered any agent to challenge the DCE.
He stated that he was not aware of the DCE’s presence at the registration center, adding that, “the news came to as a shock because I never knew the DCE was coming to register at Awiebo because the DCE has been voting at Esiama since so I will tell the DCE to stop politicising the issue because the NDC as a party is focused, we are talking about the Electoral law and you DCE talking about politics, everything bad, this DCE will blame innocent people, I will tell him to stop blaming any NDC member because nobody knows our NDC was going to challenge him and I repeat I didn’t meet the DCE at the Registration Center where he was challenged”.
Awiebo Community, however, has five Registration Centers and these centers are among other centers in the Ellembelle that the EC is taking care in the last phase of the nationwide voters’registration exercise.
The Ellembelle Registration Review Committee is yet to schedule a date to sit on the case to determine the fate of the Ellembelle 2020 Parliamentary candidate who started contesting for Ellembelle Parliamentary seat since 2012.
The secretary to the committee is the Ellembelle Electoral Commissioner, Madam Pearl, the rest are; Ellembelle District Police Commander, Ellembelle District Educating Director, one NPP rep, one NDC rep, PNC rep, one GUM rep, one PPP rep and a traditional ruler.
The 38-day nationwide voters registration exercise being conducted by the Electoral Commission (EC) ahead of the December presidential and parliamentary elections, commenced on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, and expected to end on Thursday, August 6, 2020.
So far, over 900,000 eligible voters have been registered and issued with the ID cards in the Western Region.
Source: GhanaPoliticsonline.com
