How do I vote for a candidate I neither knew nor met? - Vexed issue of District Assembly elections

Like most Ghanaians, I will be required to cast my vote to elect someone to represent my electoral area in the District Assembly and Unit Committee elections.

 Taking part in the election process is a civic responsibility and it will help deepen the decentralisation.

While I have no problem exercising my civic obligation, my headache is: how do I vote for a candidate I do not know, and have never seen or met?

As a resident of Adentan,  I have voted in every district assembly election since the municipality was carved out Tema/Ashaiman in 2008.

Then, the candidates seeking to represent the Gbentanaa Electoral Area would embark on a door-to-door campaign, particularly in the evenings and on weekends, just so voters would at least see them and interact with them, even for a brief moment before the voting day.

However, over time, this has stopped and voters within the community are compelled to vote for people they hardly know.

There is no form of engagement, no personal contact for residents to know who would best represent them.

Challenges

One of the major challenges residents of Adentan SSNIT Flats face is the poor service from waste management service providers.

We have been denied the opportunity to get to talk to the candidates to know how they intend to help resolve this issue, which is not only a nuisance, but a health risk.

Also, Adentan SSNIT Flats has no security, with residents at the mercy of thieves, who break into cars, and sometimes, attack people at night to rob them.

All these have been brought to the attention of the Adentan Municipal Assembly, which office is within the heart of the SSNIT Flats Community, yet very little has been done to help solve these problems.

The AdMA has just issued notices to residents, threatening to sanction them if they do not manage their waste disposal properly.

How do we manage the waste when the service provider the assembly contracted on our behalf has refused to go by the terms of the contract? 

Do I still have to vote?

One of the challenges affecting the District Assembly elections is the poor voter turnout, which keeps declining.

Friends living in other parts of the country, particularly in the urban areas, have the same concerns.

“Sometimes, the candidates will show up and solicit for your vote, after the election, that is the last we see of them, until another voting season,” a friend said.

To improve the voter, turn out, the National Commission on Civic Education and the Ministry of Loval Government and Rural Development have been out encouraging all eligible voters to exercise their civic responsibility by casting their votes on December 19.

However, without much information about the candidates and not knowing what they can do to help me as a resident of the electoral area, do I still have to go and vote?

If I do, who do I vote for?