Former MP and DCE in a tussle over district level elections

Prompt intervention by some voters who had gone to cast their votes last Tuesday at Asafo Number Two at Mamfam Electoral Area of Apam prevented Gomoa West District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, and the former NPP Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Joe Hackman from exchanging blows.

The DCE, who was the Assembly member for Mamfam Electoral Area of Apam before his appointment as District Chief Executive about two years ago, went to cast his vote at the Catholic Hospital Polling Station with his voter’s identity card but could not find his name in the register.

The Presiding Officer at the station reported the situation to the District Electoral Officer, Mr Stephen Bertino, for advice.

Mr Bertino advised that the DCE must be allowed to vote for the fact that he went to the polling station with his voters’ ID card and again for the fact that he was the immediate past Assembly member for the Electoral Area.

According to Mr Bertino, the DCE could not have been elected Assembly member for the area if he had not been a registered voter in the Electoral Area.

The case was reported to Mr Hackman who said he did not understand why the DCE was allowed to vote when his name was not in the voters’ register.

This resulted in hot exchange of words between the two when they met on their monitoring rounds at the Asafo Post and voters intervened to calm them down.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency later, the DCE expressed surprise that the former MP did not know that before one could be elected an assembly member, one of the conditions was that he or she must be a registered voter in the Electoral Area.

Source: GNA