I can’t believe that the long-awaited Election 2016 is less than a week away. And it’s interesting that there has been no shortage of memorable developments this election is generating, such as what one can term the ‘strange case of the missing ballot boxes’.
‘The strange case of the missing ballot boxes’ makes it sound like a Sherlock Holmes story, the sort one imagines that the famous fictional ‘consulting detective’ Mr Holmes, would have loved to have been commissioned to solve.
Who would have thought that as many as SIX ballot boxes could apparently just disappear? As reported by the Daily Guide of Monday, November 28, the Western Regional branch of the New Patriotic Party said it suspected “foul play†after six of 44 ballot boxes of the Electoral Commission fell off a truck conveying them to the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Constituency.
The NPP Western Regional Secretary, Charles Bissue, told a news conference that on November 16, they got information that when the EC’s vehicle conveying the ballot boxes arrived at its final destination, it was realized that six of the boxes “had vanished into thin airâ€. It was alleged that the boxes had fallen off from the vehicle between Ankyernyin and Beaho, in the Ahanta West District.
When the regional NPP executives went to the Tarkwa Police Station to report the case, they were referred to the Kwesimintsim Police because the place where the boxes supposedly fell is under Kwesimintsim.Â
However, when they went to the Kwesimintsim Police Station they were told that EC officials had already reported the case and it was being investigated. Â
The Western Regional Director of the EC, Stephen Opoku Mensah, confirmed the incident and indicated that the boxes had not been stolen but fell off the commission’s moving truck.
In a Facebook post, the EC confirmed that a report had been made to the police, adding that the missing boxes “will be replaced by the Commission before election dayâ€, the Guide said.
Then the paper reported in its issue of November 30, that two of the boxes had been found by a woman at Apowa who said she saw them falling off a speeding vehicle. But that still leaves four ballot boxes unaccounted for.
Furthermore, if the driver knew that the boxes had fallen off, why didn’t he stop to pick them up, especially as the EC seems very certain of the place where they supposedly fell off?Â
The assurance that they “will be replaced by the Commission before election day†is not the issue. Why didn’t the driver stop? Also, were the boxes not marked as belonging to the Electoral Commission of Ghana? More worrying still, does this mean that the EC hires uncovered vehicles to transport such sensitive election materials?
And I’m not sure that the behaviour of the Tarkwa police in this matter demonstrates the new policing approach that the police administration has been telling us about. Tarkwa police’s alleged response seems to me to be too lackadaisical in a matter that could have had serious implications had two of the boxes not been found, thus clearing up part of the mystery.
The ‘it’s not in our jurisdiction’ attitude seems to imply that they didn’t see the importance of six ballot boxes going missing en route to their destination ahead of an election that many people are very apprehensive about. In the national interest, did they even make an effort to link the NPP complainants with the Kwesimintsim police, given the importance of the matter that had been reported to them?
But, as indicated, the case of the ballot boxes is only one of some of the remarkable happenings related to this general election.
Take the matter of the split in the ranks of the All People’s Congress (APC), led by Hassan Ayariga.
Hours after the party’s General Secretary Razak Opoku and Mr Ayariga’s running mate, Emmanuel Bartels had announced their astounding, emphatic endorsement of the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party and its standard-bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, Mr Ayariga announced that the duo had already been expelled and that the APC was backing President John Mahama and the NDC.
Listening to Mr Ayariga’s effusive praise of President Mahama as he announced his support at a televised press conference, the question that came to my mind was: if Mr Ayariga admires the President so much and has so much confidence in his administration, why did he bother to register a political party and even announce his own presidential candidature?
Then there is the undeclared but intense contest by media houses, notably the television stations, to see who can attract maximum election following. The names they have given their electoral coverage says it all: TV 3 touts itself as the ‘Election Command Center’ (using the American spelling and not the British ‘centre’); EIB is ‘Election Hub’; ETV is ‘Ghana’s Election Camp’ and UTV ‘owns Ghana’s Election 2016’.
What about the numerous campaign songs that have emerged in recent times, all danceable and compelling? Incidentally, is anybody keeping count of the number of songs for the NPP and Mr Akufo-Addo?
Also instructive is the frenzy of ‘last-minute.com’ commissioning of projects by President Mahama; not to mention the mind-boggling number of times the political party leaders are criss-crossing the country to woo voters.
Anyway, Ghana’s doctors must be very happy. I never knew we had so many health devotees in our midst! It seems like these days huge numbers of the population are going on a health walk at one time or the other, and sporting political party colours.
On the other hand, maybe it’s understandable because on December 7, I’m sure we shall all need stamina, to be fit enough to wait in the predictably long queues to cast our ballot.
All the indications are that this is one election every registered voter is determined to participate in. Everybody seems determined to stand up and be counted.
But I still have a pressing concern: against the past record of shockingly high spoilt ballots, has there been enough education of those who need it on the critical issue of how to vote, how to place one’s thumb on the ballot paper?