Ablekuma North Returning Officer steps down - Collation exercise suspended for 6th time

The parliamentary election collation process in the Ablekuma North Constituency hit a snag yesterday as the Returning Officer, Vincent Obeng, announced his resignation amid disputes over the authentication of pink sheets.

"We've been able to do four out of the seven polling stations, so we are left with three more," Mr Obeng explained to journalists at the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Electoral Commission (EC) as he narrated his frustrations over the unending saga.

Yesterday's exercise was to finalise the collation process for the constituency’s parliamentary contest.

However, the exercise had to be suspended for the sixth time following a disagreement over the authentication of three out of the seven remaining polling stations.

The Ablekuma North Constituency has 281 polling stations, out of which 278 have been authenticated, with results of the remaining three polling stations still in contention.

The process 

Mr Obeng told journalists that two presiding officers who were brought in to authenticate the statement and declaration forms were unable to do so, while a third officer refused to appear.

Mr Obeng expressed frustration with the situation, saying: "It's so unfortunate for me to make this statement that I'm done with Ablekuma North". 

He consequently declared that he was stepping down, and advised the constituency to find a new returning officer to continue the electoral process.

Decision

The Director of Training at the EC, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, said the collation exercise had been suspended, and that it would be reported back to the commission for a decision to be taken on it.

He expressed disappointment over the reluctance of some presiding officers to verify election results, describing it as "unfortunate".

Dr Quaicoe revealed that out of the six presiding officers invited to verify the pink sheets, four had participated while one had initially refused but later confirmed the figures.

However, he stated that the officer had denied confirming the rejected ballots.

He emphasised the importance of honesty and transparency in the electoral process, insisting that “nobody is putting a gun” on the head of any presiding officer.

On the issue of the Returning Officer stepping down, Dr Quaicoe described it as unfortunate and said the EC would engage with him to see if he would rescind the decision to continue with the process.

Earlier, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Ablekuma North Constituency Organiser, Musah Kalamu, objected to the process, claiming that the scanned copies of the pink sheets for the exercise could not be used.

He called for a rerun of the 62 polling stations where the results had been in dispute, although 59 had since been verified, leaving three outstanding.

The New Patriotic Party's Director of Research and Elections, Evans Nimako, and the party's parliamentary candidate for the constituency, Nana Akua Owusu Afriye, who were present at the collation centre, said they were not perturbed by the tactics adopted by the NDC to frustrate the process, adding that at the end of the day, the truth would prevail.

Background

The collation process for the Ablekuma North Constituency has been marred by controversy, with some presiding officers refusing to verify the results since the EC annulled an earlier declaration.

The constituency is one of four where dispute still rages over who the authentic elected parliamentarians at the 2024 elections are.

The others are Tema Central, Okaikwei Central and Techiman South, which are all subjects of court litigation.

The EC had previously declared winners for the three constituencies, with the NPP parliamentary candidates emerging victorious.

The contest for the Ablekuma North parliamentary seat is between Nana Akua Owusu Afriye of the NPP and Ewurabena Aubynn of the NDC.