Paulina Tangoba Abayage, the former Upper East Regional Minister has taken on the current crop of regional executives of the New Patriotic Party in the Upper East Region for failing to quickly address the issues emanating from the Polling Station level elections within the Navrongo Constituency.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, Madam Abayage explained that but for the lackadaisical approach to resolving the issues, the Navrongo Central Constituency would have been able to partake in the recent Constituency level election as part of the NPP internal reorganisation process.
The former Regional Minister was however quick to commend the electorates in the area for holding their peace and the high level of decorum with which they handled the issues they are currently faced with.
“The regional executives overseeing the elections, it is their duty to ensure that everything goes on well. From the processes and proceedings that led to this unfortunate incident on that day, I think I would hold the regional executives responsible. They are the overseers of this election. If you had issues with the polling station elections, for which reason you set up a committee and you know that you have a time frame to work within, then you should have. The Polling Station election was held in February, we had 2 months to fix whatever issue that we had.”
“The people petitioned you and you knew that you had a time frame to work with, you must ensure that you do that with speed and hast and ensure that people are not disenfranchised. You do not wait less than two days before the Constituency elections to bring a letter. I have read a letter from the Regional Chairman [Lawyer Anthony Namoo] saying a number of people would not vote and actually gave reasons. It does not matter.”
“In an election where one vote can determine whether one person wins or losses, you do not disenfranchise people,” he said.
Madam Abayage explained that it was even more appalling that the Regional Executives knowing full well the challenges that persisted still refused to tackle it quickly asking “who does that to a whole constituency?”
The former Regional Minister called on the regional executives to hasten in addressing the issues that abound in the Navrongo Central Constituency.
“Let me be frank with you, I like the way the Constituency has handled this issue with decorum because anything could have happened; especially on that day. They could have been chaos, there could have been fights, but they took it calmly. They are [however] disappointed,” she added.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
