Friday 21:30hrs
What a day this has been. I am sorry that I could not get back to my
little box to tell my story earlier. Oh My Oh my. I wanted to do
some updates direct from the field but my little flat thing could not
connect to the net and now i has all but been overtaken by the events
of the day.
But you know, here is the day in perspective from my narrow bottle mouth.
The process of voting itself once you got a chance to do it took less
than 2 minutes in total. You show your card, they check it in the
order in which your name is written on the card.. so if your card
says Bla Elik Onuador for example, you had to be in the line for
Bs.. If it is written the Presbyterain way as Onuador Elik Bla or
Onuador Bla Elik, you went to the line for Os.... it was
simple. many people simply did not listen to the instructions of
the folks who periodically came along the lines or felt hat they had
queued enough in a particular line to change lanes - only to get to
the mouth of the line at the polling booth to be sent to the end of
the correct line. I did a simple thing that my daughter reminded me
about - I sent an sms to code 1413 with my polling station number and
about 2 hours later, I got a feedback confirmation about exactly
where and which line to join.. It saved me a ton!!! Noneheless, I
waited in line about 2 hours to vote. I even met a classmate of
mine who said he was called to the head of the line because he looked
like a senior citizen.. he offiered to take me to the place and I
said, I enjoy the euphoria of watching history unfold once
more.. remember what Kente4U just said earlier today.. its been 20
years, y'all !!!
well, I voted and I voted - one for presidential and then for
parliamentary. Then the burden appeared lifted from my
shoulders. Except tha I had my legs to contend with - because the
resident dictator was still in the other line - just because of her
wrong first name. whew, now I must say, I am damn lucky they used
the Eric.. She has a big S to start off her name. and it was a
cool one hour thirty five minutes of waiting. I mean
1h35m.......!!!! before she was done.
by this time, it was 4:40pm and I began to wonder what was going to
happen because one of the 5 stations in the yard had had a
verification machine failure for well over 5-6 hours. the others
including mine had experienced intermittent failures or
stoppages. well then I drove out to try and get some
kelewele (Arnold, eat your heart out!!) but alwas, setewa it was.
because all the kelewele sellers were probably in some queue
somewhere or they were afraid that election euphoria will force the
to give out free quality Kelewele. So with my legs in my car, I
returned to the polling station in my neighbourhood just on the
stroke of 5:00pm.. one of them had finished and so they commenced
sorting and counting.
But folks, as I drove around along the Spintex Road, I realised that
the turnout was really really huge this time around and that folks
were more than eager to get their mouth listened to via their
thumbs. Huge lines were the order of the day. This was of course
corroborated by the Radio and TV broadcasts.
Thankfully, the EC came out to say that if teh machines were not
available, and they also started so late, they could continue
tomorrow .. so Party agents, girded their loins to put their seals on
the ballot papers and materials. But some places, when the machine
arrived, the people said they were prepared to stay overnight if that
was what it took, and promptly, people went o their homes and brought
mobile lights, some brought their cars and turned on their headlights
to illuminate the grounds. What a determined people we are!!!
Some places of course did not have any problems and so they completed
at the appointed times,,, so as I write, the results have come in
paaa from many of the narly 26000 polling stations and it is clear
that the nail biting has been more than audibly settled.. It is a
two horse race between NDC & NPP In both Presidential and Parliamentary races.
Sadly Nduom is not likely to get back any of the money he invested
- I doubt with the trend of results coming whether he can get the
deposit refund from the electoral commission. Even in KEEA his home
constituency, the results were disastrous. the rest of the parties
(GCPP, PNC, CPP) are getting 1 or 2 in some polling stations.. UFP
and independent JOY are clocking a serious 0 in most places. in the
Parliamentary it is the same.. but NC Ayariga in a few places has had
like 5 or 7.. It is very bad. I have said it before that Ghana is
a two tradition town and that is NPP and NDC.. the Nkrumaists have,
in my opinion, been destroyed beyond repair in and via this
election. I am sorry, but I wonder how with all their gurus, thy
could not read the signs. Just their bickering for position was a
recipe for disaster as it clearly pointed out to the electorate that
they could not even patch a small set of organistaions... how could
they sustain and patch the diversity called Ogyakrom. Nkrumaists,
forget about the constitutional right of association and democratic
option for self-determination!!! Simply choose a tradition ( I am
sure you know which one without fighting over the choice of colour or
emblem) and align with it for the future..
Right now, even with a possible vote tomorrow in many areas, the die
is cast and the flow of results will continue.
This will be a very very tight race.. I am watching the trends!! in
most places, it is NDC & NPP criss-crossing each other with votes in
either of the races. some regions have also demonstrated strong
gargantuan results..but it looks like there are a great many swing
constituencies.. But like I said this morning.. It is still early days yet.
But I tell you, 2012 will be an election to remember.. when it is
all over, the biometric verification would be seen to have more than
contributed to the beauty of the Ghana political journey.. even if
the no verification, no vote has bitten a few people and refused them
the chance to vote in today's election. the machine could also
tell how many ballots should be in the box.. so when you open the box
after the voting, the total number of ballots including rejected
ballots must not be more than what the verification machine says.
This evening is an opportunity for all of us not to sleep.. because
counting has been completed some places, voting is goiing on in some
other places, others have adjourned till tomorrow morning.
let me end by telling yo a funny story at my polling station. This
young lady walks up to the polling officer, presents her card, is
checked correct, then she proceeds to the next official and is duly
verified with her for-finger on the machine.. She walks to the next
official, is given the Presidential, collects the ballot paper, folds
it there and then and walks to the ballot box, slots in the folded
ballot paper... then she walks to the next officer ( who is the
officer in charge of the parliamentary ballot papers) and asks in Twi
" nea EwOhe na me de min sa be tim so no" and which one will I have
to thumbprint? she was told, in Twi, eno na wo de akoshEmu no.. it
is the one you just slotted in ... so she asks the Polling
Official, Oh, so cant I get another one? she was promptly
dismissed... but she got to do the parliamentary. Her plain
unstamped ballot was among the rejected ballots.
I tell u. What a day, this has been!!
I am yet to eat my Milo with hot water!!!
I will be back.!! For now, Good night!!!
BTW, You can read my quadrilineal blog and catch up with the
excitement of the previous posts on http://bla-elik.blogspot.com
Bla Elik
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