Ho/Aflao in brief jubilation
Ho and Aflao townships came alive
with spontaneous but short-lived jubilations following the
announcement of the results of the Presidential Election Runoff on
Wednesday, which failed to produce a winner.
The results saw Professor John Evans Atta-Mills of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) slightly ahead with 50.13 per cent and
49.87 per cent for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP).
The jubilations, therefore, fizzled out when it dawned on
the people that the announcement did not declare Professor Mills as
the next president of the Republic of Ghana.
Prior to the announcement by the Electoral Commission,
the two municipalities went silent as their anxieties and frustrations
kept mounting in anticipation of declaring a winner by the Chairman
of the EC, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan.
Reacting to the declaration, Mr Modestus Ahiable, Volta
Regional Chairman of the NDC, said the country would have been
spared the extra cost and time if the EC had provided enough
materials for the Tain Constituency elections during the December
28, 2008 runoff.
“We will go and fight the last battle knowing that God is
on our side”, he said.
However, Mr Ahiable said, the Tain election would help to
cool down the political tension.
Mr Johnson Avuletey, Volta Regional Organiser of the
New Patriotic Party (NPP), declined to comment on the results.
Mr Peter Ziku, a retired teacher told, the Ghana News
Agency (GNA) at Aflao that it was God, who ordained leaders and
was sure that Professor Mills would eventually be the victor.
Madam Celestine Atchoukle, a Togolese itinerant trader,
described the outcome of the polls as a puzzle and said the calm
manner in which it was handled again portrayed Ghana as a more
mature country politically in dealing with complex political issues.
Mr Baba Shaibu, a Ghanaian transit truck driver, also said
Ghana needed a breather and that the Tain election would result in a
conclusive victory for Professor Mills.
Other comments picked by the GNA in Ho described the
Commission's decision as a clever way of resolving a very delicate
problem, which was crucial to the peace and stability of the country.
Some described Dr Afari Gyan as a shrewd arbiter, who
was behaving like a referee of a football match, who had decided on
a “penalty shoot-out” in a highly competitive and emotionally
charged game and that he had applied his experiences in an
admirable way.
They said the decision of the Commission was an indirect
way of declaring Prof Mills as the winner and by so doing offer Nana
Akufo-Addo the opportunity to bow out gracefully by conceding
defeat, rather than a conspiracy to deprive the NDC of victory.