Kandiga Chief appeals to EC to organise special election in his area

Although the Electoral Commission (EC) has stated it would organise the election in a disputed electoral area in Kandiga in the Kassena-Nankana East District of the Upper East Region sometime this month, the Chief and people of the area seem perturbed over the delay.

They are therefore, appealing to the commission to as matter of urgency put the necessary arrangements in place, to ensure that the people in what is yet to be the called Atosale-Azaasi Electoral area, which forms part of Kandiga, also exercise their franchise.

Though the people came out in their numbers on the day of the district level elections in December 2010 to elect their assembly member, the EC did not send officials there to conduct the election, due to what the commission said was a dispute over the naming of the electoral area.

At a press conference held at Kandiga on Tuesday, the Chief of Kandiga, Naba Henry Abawine Amenga-Etego II, said the Akurugu-Daboo electoral area was changed to Atosale-Azaasi Electoral area by the Electoral Commission (EC) during the recent demarcation of electoral areas and unit committees.

According to him, the Navrongo Traditional Council was not happy with the decision to rename the electoral area, and therefore, petitioned the EC, with the explanation that it was not consulted before the name was changed from Akurugu-Daboo to Atosale-Azaasi Electoral Area.

Naba Amenga-Etego II stated that he wondered why the people were disenfranchised when there had been a Legislative Instrument (LI) backing the name of the newly-created electoral area.

He further lamented that the denial of the people in the area to exercise their franchise was a strong violation of their fundamental human rights, and this should not be allowed to go on without addressing the problem once and for all, to pave way for the election to take place as early as practicable.

According to him, the name Akurugu-Daboo was the name of a family in the area, and alleged that the Regent of Navrongo and the District Chief Executive of the area had a political motive.

The allegation, Mr. Emmanuel Andema, Kassena-Nankana District Chief Executive has denied, explaining that the District Security Council (DISEC), in consultation with the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and the EC, had to place a ban on the election in the area, because they sensed danger that if the election was held, there would have been a serious dispute.