Pieces of information gathered by savannahnews in Tamale have indicated that the 2010 District Assembly and Unit Committee Election slated for the coming November is likely to face low voter turn out in the 20 districts, Municipal and Metropolitan areas in the Northern Region.
Unlike the previous exercises which saw unimaginable and fierce competitions, this year’s election seems much unattractive and pigheaded like a thick smoke beneath a heap of sawdust, probably due to the low awareness creation and public education on it.
Monitoring from the various radio stations, televisions and the print media, it is obviously clear that almost all issues published or tabled for discussions are purely political at the detriment of the District Assembly Election which is a major national exercise that has direct or indirect effect on the developmental needs of the masses.
The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), the Information Service Department (ISD) and the Media on the other hand have largely failed to embark on massive education on the exercise to whip up the enthusiasm of the interested aspiring candidates and the electorates.
Previously, the NCCE and the Information Service personnel were at the centre of the educational campaign on the elections by combing round all the communities to highlight on the importance of the exercise just to encourage more people to contest.
In separate interviews with some concerned residents of Tamale including the President of the Concerned Citizens Association of Tamale (CCAT), Alhassan Basharu Daballi, they admitted that the publicity and education on the election had been very low.
Some of them asserted that they were not even aware of any such national exercise and that the only exercise they knew about was the National Population and Housing Census which they claimed they had attended series of public fora on it.
The President of the CCAT, Alhassan Basharu Daballi also a former Assembly of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly told savannahnews that he was surprised about the sudden loss of interest by most Ghanaians especially the technocrats to contest in the District Level Elections.
Mr. Daballi who attributed the situation to high political interferences that were fast gaining roots in the assembly elections, maintained that the trend was not only discouraging most people from voting but was also having serious negative influence on the quality of persons contesting the election in the various electoral areas.
He was also disturbed about the quality of persons who were always pushed into the assembly as Government Appointees some of which he noted could not even read or write.
Meanwhile, he said the District Assembly Concept required that at least one-third of the assembly persons should be Government Appointee and they are supposed to be purely technocrats.
However, most of the Assemblies are grossly violating this requirement and are rather falling on mere party activists who would automatically dance to their tunes rather than ensuring transparency, accountability and development at local level.
Mr. Daballi conversely bemoaned that the District Assembly Concept was fast loosing its values due to the political interferences. Saying, that it is completely out of place for political parties to sponsor or resource an aspiring assembly members, but that is what is the order of the day and yet nobody seems to bother about it’.
In the meantime, savannahnews has gathered that about 142 women have expressed interest to contest the District Assembly Election this year as against over 1,4000 in the Northern Region, according to records from the Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC). Currently, the region has 38 assembly women as against 564 men, has only one woman Member of Parliament as against 25 men and has no woman District Chief Executive out of the 20 assemblies in the region.
The blogger has also learnt that the current assembly members would be exhausting their tenure of office at the end of this September 2010 but the nomination forms for the upcoming assembly elections are yet to be opened.
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