[ 2017-05-17 ]

The scene of confusion

Tear gas at DCE confirmation
Hell broke loose yesterday at the Sunyani West
District Assembly hall at Odumase in the
Brong-Ahafo Region during voting by assembly
members to confirm the president’s nominee,
Martin Obeng, for the position of district chief
executive, when police fired tear gas at the crowd
in the hall.

The assembly members, traditional rulers,
journalists, the regional police commander, the
regional minister and other people in the hall had
to rush out for safety, having covered their noses
with handkerchiefs and coughing.

In the process, an official of the Electoral
Commission (EC), who was to have supervised the
election, collapsed and was rushed to the regional
hospital in Sunyani.

At the end of it all, the regional minister, Kwaku
Asomah- Cheremeh, using his powers as the chairman
of the Regional Security Council, postponed the
election for the confirmation of the DCE nominee
indefinitely, after the first round of voting
which could not approve the nomination.

The heavy presence of the police and the military
prevented the situation from turning bloody as
anticipated by their intelligence gathering. The
nominee, who is physically challenged, had many
members of Federation of Physically Challenged at
the hall to give him moral support.

They became helpless as they stayed glued to their
seats outside the hall when the confusion rocked
those voting inside the facility.

The first round of voting produced 35 ‘Yes’
votes for the nominee as against 19 ‘No’ out
of 54 assembly members. The nominee needed 36
‘Yes’ votes to be confirmed but narrowly
missed it. Immediately after voting, and counting
began, the police and the army officers surrounded
the table, making those against the nominee
suspect that there was a machination to rig the
election in favour of Martin and therefore started
shouting and ready to fight.

When counting was over and some assembly members
realized they were to vote again, they refused and
left the hall. Chairs and tables were turned over
as they went out.

Source - dailyguideafrica.com

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