Two blind men are among the 150 contestants vying for the 54 seas of the Bawku East District Assembly in the forthcoming District Assembly Elections. Mr. Edward Akuka, the acting District Electoral Officer told the GNA in an interview at Bawku that the blind candidates are Mr Musah Alale Bananga, a teacher at Tempane Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Mr Samuel Issah Ayaag, a farmer and a volunteer craft instructor at Nati Primary School.

The two physically disabled persons are contesting for the same Pialogo electoral area seat alongside two other contestants, he added. Mr Akuka said out of the lot, Mrs. Lucy Awuni and Mrs. Georgina Awudu both teachers are the only female candidates in the district.

Mrs. Awuni is contesting for the Binduri electoral seat while Mrs. Awudu is vying for the Tubong-Kukomada Electoral area seat, she said. Mr Akuka said more candidates have filed to contest in the elections this year than in the previous one that was held in 1998.

Unlike in 1998 when many candidates stood un-opposed, this time about only three candidates are un-opposed candidates. He attributed the increase in the number of the contestants to the impasse in the present assembly over the endorsement of the President's nominee for the position of the District Chief Executive.

Mr Akuka expressed regret that although the district assembly concept is non-partisan in character, it is assuming a serious political dimension in the Bawku West District. The Bawku East District Assembly is the only one out of the 110 district assemblies in the country without a District Chief Executive.