Politics of Monday, 18 January 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

I snatched ballot papers to cause a rerun - Carlos Ahenkorah justifies

Carlos Ahenkorah snatched ballot papers from a Parliamentary official during a voting process Carlos Ahenkorah snatched ballot papers from a Parliamentary official during a voting process

Scandalous and recently vilified Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, has once again given justification for which he snatched some ballot papers on the morning of January 7, 2021, during the election of a Speaker of Parliament.

The MP, who was seen in a viral video believed to have been captured during a party he organized for his constituents, according to Mynewsgh.com, explained that he did what he did in an attempt to cause the House to have a rerun of the elections.

He explained that his colleagues from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had engaged in unruly behaviors, leading to a rerun of the voting process several times.

He added that in his attempt to also send the process in another rerun, after he noticed that their candidate for the Speaker position, Prof Mike Ocquaye had garnered 136 votes, he thought it would be perfect to snatch the papers from whoever was counting them.

“We were confident that we had already won because we knew we had 138 votes in the House. I was praying that our votes would be counted first and then when they did, we noticed that we only got 136 votes.

“I realized immediately that this was not good for us because it became evident that the NDC knew what they were about – they had connived with some people from our side to betray us,” he explained.

He explained that it was at this point that he decided to do what he did. He followed it up by asking the people gathered there if he did anything wrong, to which they responded “no.”

Many have condemned the actions of the MP, including members of his party, describing it as unacceptable.

Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin described it as “despicable,” assuring that it will not repeat itself again, at least not under his rule.