Ghanaians anxious who becomes next President

Page 37 Thursday December 11 2008
GHANAIANS are anxious regarding who becomes the country’s next President. The outcome of this year’s elections has seen many political heavyweights losing their seats, reinforcing the belief that the citizenry are now quite discerning, notably on political issues.
In the quest to know what the electorate consider, first and foremost, when voting for a candidate seeking political office and how they observe this year’s elections, the Daily Graphic went round to seek opinions of some residents of Accra.
At the Abeka Lapaz Highway branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Station Master, Mr Agyin ???, congratulated Ghanaians on their sense of maturity manifested last Sunday.
He said: “I was surprised at the massive turnout of voters when I got to my polling station and how well they comported themselves. That was very impressive; it shows that Ghanaians have understood what politics is really about, and that shows that they are ready for development and nation building”.
He highly recommended the Electoral Commission (EC), the security agencies and the media for the high level of professionalism they exhibited on Sunday.
“Although there were some bad nots out there, I think, in general, the EC and the security agencies performed perfectly well, which I think was a plus for Ghanaians,” he said.
He, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the unfortunate incident that happened in Akwatia, resulting in the carrying away of ballot boxes by a group of unknown machomen who stormed the polling station.
“I understand the Member of Parliament for that constituency brought the machomen. How on earth could an MP behave this way. I think it was about time our MPs comported themselves,” he added.
Mr Agyin expressed his concern about the massive number of invalid votes that were cast by some electorate.
In his view, he said he did not like the idea of electorate dipping their little finger in the ink before thumb-printing.
“I think most electorate voted with the ink on the little finger; perhaps, that is why we have a lot of invalid votes,” he said.
A Fashion Designer at the Kaneshie Market, Madam Sussan, advised Ghanaians to wait patiently for the EC to finally decide on who would become the country’s next President.
“The EC gave us 72 hours for the declaration of the results and we are still within the 72 hours, so there is no cause for alarm,” she said.
She said if the two leading political parties, that is the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), were really calling for peace, then the one with the lesser number of votes should give up the race.
“I think the NDC is making things difficult for the EC and Ghanaians at large. They have taken the majority of the seats in Parliament and I think that should be enough to make them happy,” she said.
Madam Sussan said she was happy with the work of the ruling government, but did not like the work of the MPs, which she said, was always shabbily done.
She said the MPs were misusing their Common Fund given them in Parliament and that affected the country financially.
At the Government Secretariat School in Cantonments, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Alfred Nortey, said he was satisfied with the work of the EC and the security agents on Sunday.
He hoped that Ghanaians would still comport themselves in the next four years to maintain the peace.
He expressed his grievances about the work of the MPs, which he said, was not encouraging.
“I am appealing to the government not to give any MP the position of a Minister of State in order to give them the needed concentration in their constituencies,” he noted.
He said too many positions made them perform poorly.
Mr Nortey encouraged Ghanaians to exercise patience as they awaited the results.
He said a run-off would cost the nation a lot and, therefore, appealed to the EC to discourage that.
“Most people cannot afford travelling to their home towns to vote for the second time,” he emphasised.