“I am totally surprised and overwhelmed by the announcement being made that she (Sarah Pobee) had 28 as against 7, I can attest to you that we are 20 that voted no… we know ourselves.”
This was the revelation made by the presiding member of the Ada East Assembly Simon Arthur after the EC declared the confirmation of Sarah Pobee as DCE following the voting exercise by thirty six (36) assembly members.
The District Chief Executive nominee got third time lucky as she polled 28 out of the 36 valid votes as against her previous 15 and 19 respectively.
A large troop of armed Police personnel who supervised the voting exercise stood their ground to maintain law and order after a scuffle broke out at the centre. The exercise was forced to come to a standstill after an attempt was made to snatch the ballot box by unidentified individuals. The Police were able secure it and returned it to the Electoral Commissioner with the seal intact before counting could be carried out and the appointee endorsed.
But the presiding member of the Ada East area who refused to sign and endorse the declared results fumed that he was assaulted and fingered the NPP’s vigilante group, The Invincible Forces responsible for the act.
He added that he was convinced that the ballot box was swapped since the seal number of the ballot box was not recorded. He alleged that the ballot box in which he dropped his vote was not the same one that was returned after the disruption.
“My observation is that the one that I put the papers in, the cover was white but when they were returning it, it was almost green and I said I am not going there to sign anything; the seal number was not taken and once the seal number was not taken, you cannot be sure of the fact that the ballot box was not changed. It was changed, totally changed!”
Responding to how he knew about the number of people who voted in the negative against the DCE nominee, he stated that “you cannot force a candidate on the people. In the constitution, article 243 specified clearly that when the President nominates assembly members should approve and this should be done in an atmosphere devoid of conflicts, assaults, tension and this was what I envisaged since yesterday….”
