By Christiana Afua Nyarko/Patrick Nudzi
Doryumu(GAR) May 13, GNA – The three aspirants in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) primaries at Shai-Osudoku have voiced out shortfalls before to the primaries.
David Tetteh Assumeng, Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo and Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte all in an interview with the GNA pinpointed poor organisation of the polls and the sudden change of venue from Word of Grace International School in Dodowa to Doryumu Basic Primary School in Doryumu.
“It is just unfortunate that the the initial agreement as to where to converge has been an issue of hullabaloo where people were swayed from one venue to the other. We knew that the functional executive committee decided that the voting centre should be Doryumu Basic Primary. ” Mr Asumeng said.
Mr. Assumeng said the executives of the Party, particularly the chairman should have “known better” and stuck to the Party protocols and directions.
“I can’t fathom why the Constituency Chairman, the organiser and other other collegues were swaying people here and there as to where to hold it until the the last minutes before they came to this place. So the initial preparation has been very unfortunate,” he said.
Linda Obenawaa Akweley Ocloo on he other hand said as at Friday, May 12, she waited at the party office for a copy of the register in order to look through to ascertain whether it actually contained the list of party delegates, as she claimed the “party secretary was working for the opponent”.
She disclosed in an interview that she dropped this move because she did not want to “disrupt the electoral process”.
Dr Michael Kpessa-Whyte also shared similar sentiments expressed by his fellow contestants which he attributed to the “lack of respect for party structures” from individuals, he says, are at the higher level positions within the party.
Dr. Kpessa-Whyte however hinted how the issue had been resolved to make way for a smooth electioneering process.
He was optimistic that corrections would be made from the mistakes and discrepancies and more efforts channeled to improve it. “…lessons have been learnt and I believe it will guide the future,” he said.
Despite their criticism of parts of the preparation process, they were all satisfied with the ongoing process and. optimistic that voter turnout will be high and the polls would run smoothly devoid of any trouble.
“I expect that every delegate would have an opportunity to vote without any challenge or whatsoever,” he said.
All three candidates took their turns to cast their ballots.
The vote processing is ongoing without any record of violence or malpractice. Voting is expected to close at 4pm.
GNA