By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, Dec. 07, GNA – There was a low turnout of voters at the beginning of voting at the Tema Secondary School (TEMASCO) Polling Stations A and B in the Tema West Constituency in Election 2024.
Mr. Arnold Nyade, Presiding Officer at Temasco Polling Station A, told the Ghana News Agency that a total of 490 electorates is expected to vote at the centre.
He said the exercise had been smooth and attributed the low turnout to the numerous polling stations created in the constituency.
He noted that only a few people registered at the Temasco centres, expressing hope that all the expected people would vote before the polls closed.
Mr Nyade urged Ghanaians to abide by the laid-down rules, go home right after voting, and return during counting.
At polling station B, Madam Selom Asafo, presiding officer, said a total of 490 voters were expected to vote while 18 voters had already voted as of 07:50 hours.
Meanwhile, a 19-year-old first-time voter, Victoria Enam Nutakor, who voted at Temasco Polling Station B, says she was motivated to participate in the elections as a beneficiary of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy and digitisation.
Ms Nutakor, an SHS graduate of Tema Senior High School, said the government’s initiative did not only shape her educational journey, but also took a huge burden off her parents.
She highlighted how the programme eased the financial burden on her family and motivated her to achieve academic success.
“I came out to vote today because of the Free SHS policy and digitisation. If not for free SHS, I don’t think I would have been able to continue my education. My parents do not have money, and I know they would have struggled to continue my education, and I have a lot of friends who were in school because of free SHS,” she said.
She noted that the voting process was smooth and pleaded that whoever emerged as the winner of the elections should continue the free SHS policy to benefit young people.
Madam Abigail Azumah, an unemployed woman who also voted at the TEMASCO Polling Station B, stated that her children benefitted from the free SHS policy and was praying that the next government would create more jobs for the citizens.
GNA