"BAAMU YAADA" DEMO IN KSI WAS MASSIVE

The Minority Leader in Parliament and MP for Suame, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu says the New Patriotic Party will continue to put pressure on the Electoral Commission to come out with a validated voter register for this year’s General Elections. 

According to him, the position of the Electoral Commission on the preparation of a credible voters register for the elections, which is just six months away, appears unsatisfactory in view of what it calls the lackadaisical posture by the Commission towards the electoral process.

 Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu was speaking to GBC’s Garden City Radio when members, supporters and sympathizers of the NPP joined the Movement for Change, AFAG and Let My Votes Count in a demonstration in Kumasi, dubbed, “Baamu Yaada”. 

The demonstration was to compel the Electoral Commission to do something about the reported bloated register, which the NPP says has over 600 thousand names believed to be that of foreigners and minors. 

The demonstration dubbed, “Baamu Yaada”, a Hausa phrase meaning, “We Shall Not Agree”,  was also to register the displeasure of the demonstrators against the seeming lackadaisical attitude of the Electoral Commission towards this year’s General Elections.

 The demonstrators, who were in either black or red clothing, undertook a peaceful demonstration through some principal streets of Kumasi. 

Organizers of the demonstration promised to ensure that members adhered to the route laid out for the demonstration.

 The police, having learnt some lessons from the Accra demonstration that was marred by violence, this time, use their expertise to ensure that the Kumasi demonstration was peaceful. 

The demonstration moved from State Boys’ Basic School near Suame Roundabout through Bantama, Adum, Asafo Labour Roundabout, Fante New Town to Alabar.

 Also among the demonstrators were some head porters referred to as Kayaye. 

The demonstrators converged at Abbey’s Park at Ash Town to round off the event.

 Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu described the demonstration as a success, judging from the huge attendance it registered. 

He said nothing should be done by the Electoral Commission that would plunge the country into electoral dispute. He said it is easy for the Commission to validate the bloated voter register than to allow for limited voter registration, which he noted cannot guarantee the credibility of the register.