HEAVYWEIGHTS of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have descended on the Atiwa Constituency to unleash their final shots ahead of tomorrow’s by-election.
With simultaneous rallies that brought the constituency alive yesterday, the NDC pulled a large crowd at Anyinam, while the NPP also did same at Kwabeng, in numbers that made it difficult to predict the outcome of tomorrow’s exercise.
At Anyinam, the NDC lined up speakers including the party’s National Chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei; the General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia; the National Organiser, Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan; and the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, while on the NPP list were the party’s leader and flag bearer for the 2012 presidential polls, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; the National Chairman, Mr Jake Obetseby-Lamptey, and the General Secretary, Mr Owusu Afriyie, among others.
The speakers at the two separate events urged the electorate to vote for their respective candidates.
The Atiwa seat was declared vacant following the death of Kwasi Annoh Ankama, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area.
The candidates contending the seat are Mr Emmanuel Atta Twum of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a human resource person who also is the current District Chief Executive for the Atiwa District, and Mr Kwasi Amoako Attah, a legal practitioner who is also the current Presiding Member of the Atiwa District Assembly.
Others are Mr Kasum Abdul Karim, a farmer, for the PNC and Mr George Apraku Padmore, a journalist, standing on the ticket of the New Vision Party.
Prior to the rallies, the two main contending parties had resorted to intense house-to-house and mini campaigns at various communities and towns in the Atiwa Constituency to canvass for votes for their respective parliamentary candidates.
They had also aggressively engaged in accusations and counter-accusations of each other’s attempt to buy votes and rig the election.
The campaign tour undertaken by the NDC involved Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia and the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, and his deputy, Mr Baba Jamal, who also took the opportunity to explain to the electorate the impact of government policy on the socio-economic development of the country and, particularly, the Atiwa District.
The NPP’s campaign tour, led by its flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the National Organiser of the party, Alhaji Muctar Bamba, was used to introduce the NPP’s parliamentary candidate, Mr Kwasi Amoako Atta, to the electorate and canvass for votes for him.
On security measures being adopted to ensure the safety of the electorate, the Eastern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ransford Ninsin, said 1,200 police personnel, comprising 735 policemen from the Eastern Region and 465 policemen from the Greater Accra, Western, Central and the Volta regions, would be deployed at all the 113 polling stations in the Atiwa Constituency.
He explained that to ensure maximum safety of the electorate, 10 police personnel would be stationed at each polling station at five strategic areas at Nkuaben, Osino, Anyinam, New Jejeti and Akyem Akropong to respond to emergency situations.
