The Dome Kwabenya branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has provided an explanation for the events that led to the suspension of the collation of results at the regional collation centre on Saturday, December 21.
This clarification follows the Electoral Commission (EC)’s suspension of the collation process for the Dome Kwabenya and Ablekuma North constituencies. The suspension came after a High Court decision mandated the re-collation of results for nine contested constituencies.
After the re-collation process, the EC announced results for seven constituencies but withheld the results for Dome Kwabenya, citing the absence of pink sheets from three polling stations. Both the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were unable to provide these critical documents.
The NDC has since rejected the EC’s declarations for the other constituencies and has threatened to take legal action to challenge the outcomes.
In a statement released on December 21, the Assistant Secretary of the NPP in the Dome Kwabenya constituency Mr Otu Addo claimed that their pink sheets were completely destroyed during an incident involving a mob allegedly linked to the NDC.
According to the statement, the mob assaulted individuals and vandalized the collation centre, resulting in the loss of critical electoral documents.
The NPP has called for investigations into the incident and has urged the Electoral Commission to ensure a resolution that upholds the integrity of the electoral process. Meanwhile, tensions remain high as stakeholders await further developments.
“Whiles collation was ongoing, the lead EC official at the Regional Collation Centre informed us that three (3) sheet were not available. He asked if we had a copy as the EC had no copy. We did not also have a copy, as both the EC and our sheet had been burnt to ashes by the NDC mob -who in our opinion had just been incited by the NDC candidate – Videos available and already sent to the EC. Or snatched right inside the collation centre in front of the Police and EC officials who both witnessed the same.”
“In fact, we had been told on 8th of December 8, -When the mob beat everyone and ran-sacked the place- that the place was unsafe and so we will be called on the next morning to converge at the Regional EC headquarters.”
The NPP stated that the process was subsequently cut short by the EC after calm had been restored.
The NPP asserted that they received no prior notification regarding the collations and expressed their anticipation for the EC to finalize the process that had been initiated.
Source: citinewsroom.com