Baba Jamal retains Akwatia NDC slot
The incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Mr Mohammed Ahmed Baba Jamal, has been retained to contest the 2016 election on the ticket of the party.
Advertisement
Mr Jamal, a Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, polled 3653 votes in the primary to beat his rival, Mr Basil Ahiable, a business consultant who garnered 2016 votes
In all 5669 registered voters of the party, out of the total of 8 050 registered voters, cast their votes in the primary supervised by the Electoral Commission (EC)
A total of 98 ballots were rejected in the primary billed as the battle of the titans.
Constituency register
The Akwatia Constituency primary was put on hold due to a dispute over the party’s Akwatia Constituency voters register.
The party’s voters register continued to pose challenges as a large number of voters had to return home disappointed as their names were missing from the new voters register which was used for the election.
For instance, at the Akwatia Lorry Park polling station, a female member of the NDC was prevented from casting her vote.
Some NDC members at the polling centre claimed the woman was not a member of the NDC but rather a member of the New Patriotic Party so they could not allow her to cast her vote even though she displayed her NDC identification card.
The situation resulted in fisticuffs among supporters of both Mr Baba Jamal and Mr Ahiable.
A timely intervention by the police prevented the scuffling from turning into a fully blown violence.
Police reinforcement managed to restore order for the election to continue.
Speaking to members and supporters of the party, Mr Jamal called on them to bury their differences since the primary was a family affair.
He advised them to work hard to retain the seat for the NDC.
#GhanaVotes2016