A one time independent presidential candidate in the 2012 elections, Jacob Osei Yeboah (JOY) says he was ignobly cheated in the 2012 elections.
JOY, revealed this on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue, in the midst of an ongoing discussion on the call for a new voters’ register.
A social commentator, Sydney Casely Hayford had accused successive governments of fuelling instances of electoral malpractices and cited an instance where a former military officer, Brigadier General Erskine got zero in his own constituency despite taking part in the electoral process.
Not only did JOY, as he is popularly called cite the inefficiencies in Ghana’s electoral system as the cause of his catastrophic defeat, but he also blamed the two major political parties, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“How can this be if not the manipulation from these political parties?” a dissatisfied Jacob Osei Yeboah asked rhetorically.
Manipulations
A rather saddened Jacob Osei Yeboah caused the studio panel and listeners alike with an infectious laughter when he recounted how he had to virtually ‘beg’ for his votes to be given back to him at a polling station in Kwadaso in the Ashanti region.
“When the results came, I had zero in Kwadaso and when I started complaining it became 7… I was anticipating at least three votes,” he said.
“Although I was not there, I was sure of my representative and his wife together with a pastor friend of mine, who came from America to vote for me. I knew that if I won’t get anything, not for these three people, so I came out and said I am really surprised and when I mentioned this, it became 7 for me and I took it like that,” he added.
Well the chronicles did not end with that. Per the results declared in Nyakomadan and surrounding towns, JOY had been likened to the proverbial ‘Prophet who has no honor in his own home.’
“Let me tell you in my own constituency, my hometown, there is a small town called Nyankomadoa, I was told I had 15 votes, not even my hometown Atonsu, Nsuta and Kwaaman where I have all my relatives there.”
“There was one I had only 16 and the residents were charged after they realized I had been cheated…”
Speaking in Twi, Mr. Yeboah said, “Ah! omo ewia mu dodow Nyankomadoa aha nkoaa wonya dunum, omo se dunsia na wonya ye…omo ewia mu…”
Literally meaning, “they have cheated you massively!…even here in Nyakomadoa you had 15 votes and yet they are saying you secured sixteen votes in all these areas?
[Host]: But voters can change their minds?
“They voted! This was after the counting!” JOY exclaimed.
Yet another experience to share and JOY described how whopping 100 plus votes changed to a mere 18 votes in the Brong Ahafo region,
“…It happened to me even in the Brong Ahafo region, when they counted a particular constituency, I was informed I had 109 because I knew my network so I was waiting to see the results for the whole constituency and when the entire results came, I think I had 18 votes,” he lamented.
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