Following the snatching of ballots by Tema West Member of Parliament (MP) Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, legal luminary, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare known widely as Kwaku Azar has advised that the Parliament of Ghana adopt a digital voting system immediately to avoid another ballot-snatching scandal in the house.

Kwaku Azar noted that the hardware for electronic voting (e-voting) is already available to Parliament and that the software ought to be procured at a minimum cost so that e-voting can be implemented in the house.

He contended that it is displeasing to see incidents of ballot-snatching in the legislature of the country.

“Parliament should move to a digital voting age immediately. The hardware is already in place and the software to enable such e-voting can be procured at minimum cost.

It is not pleasing to the eye to witness ballot-box snatching in parliament…” He argued on social media.

Background

The MP for Tema West Carlos Ahenkorah during the election of the Speaker for the Eighth Parliament of the Republic of Ghana snatched ballots and attempted to exit the Chamber of Parliament. He was however restrained by other Members of Parliament who chased after him and succeeded in retrieving the ballots from him.

Mr Ahenkorah snatched the ballots when it became clear that the candidate of New Patriotic Party (NPP), Prof. AaronMike Oquaye had lost the election to the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.

The actions of Mr Ahenkorah have been widely condemned by Ghanaians from across the political divide.