Accra, Dec. 7, GNA – The 2024 General Election had many senior citizens casting their ballots and justifying the importance of exercising their civic responsibility with interesting reasons.
When the Ghana News Agency interviewed a visibly ailing Erasmus Dowuona, the 71-year old citizen said he had asked permission from his doctor to go home, one week ahead of the election, to prepare for the D-Day.
Accompanied by his granddaughter, Mr Dowuona was returning from the Madina Constituency to his transit home at Atomic North in the Dome-Kwabenya Constituency, after casting his ballot.
“I went to vote at Madina where I reside. I’m just here for a few days. Next week, I will return to Korle Bu, where I was on admission,” he told the Ghana News Agency.
He said he prioritised his civic responsibility because he believed in choosing his own leader.
“I won’t be able to forgive myself if I don’t vote and my candidate loses. However, I will be content that I voted, even if my candidate loses,” he stated.
For 66-year-old Kwame Amoako, who has been voting since 1992, securing the future of his children and grandchildren is his motivation exercising his franchise.
“I’m also committed to choosing leaders who will sustain our peace and advance our development,” he told the GNA at the Soul Care Assemblies of God Free Town Polling Centre.
Mr Amoako’s position was shared by 78-year-old Selina Offei, who got to the Centre with the aid of her granddaughter, balancing her movements with her walking stick.
“I’m voting to ensure that my grandchildren’s higher education is guaranteed,” she noted.
Madam Rennie Quansah, 65, who voted at Westland in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, told the GNA that: “As a citizen who wants the betterment of Ghana, it is my thumb that will lead me to what I want.” Since 2016, she made it an imperative to return to Ghana every election year from overseas to cast her ballot.
Another senior citizen who voted at the same polling station highlighted that not voting to choose your right people could come with so many “ramifications and consequences”.
“It is important to exercise this civic responsibility freely for the sake of the children. It is not an exercise to joke with,” the 70-year-old, who wanted to be identified as Terry B, advised.
Emmanuel Kwame Agbenyenu, 76, casting his ballot, said choosing a leader who would be guided by the values of integrity, honesty, and truthfulness was important to him.
This motivated him to get to the polling station despite his slow geriatric pace.
When the GNA interviewed Madam Charlotte Danquah, 62, after casting her ballot at the CAC Polling Station in the Dome Kwabenya Constituency, she explained that her usual desire to exercise her franchise was even propelled, this time, by the positive development she witnessed in her hometown recently.
“When I went to Shama for a funeral recently, I realised that more children had been enrolled in secondary school,” she explained. “Even teenage mothers have left their children with their mothers to pursue secondary education.
“Some people have also been engaged by a ceramic company, which manufactures tiles and toilet bowls. I was amazed to see that even mud houses had their floors tiled as a result.
“There was also a fashion enterprise that was teaching young ladies to make fascinators and other accessories for free. Indeed, I saw a progressive Shama, so I was inspired to vote.”
GNA