5000 Kayayei For Kumasi Demo (read more)

ABOUT 5000 head porters, popularly known as Kayayei in the local parlance, have confirmed their participation in Wednesday’s mammoth demonstration in Kumasi against the Electoral Commission (EC). National President of the Head Porters Association of Ghana, Adiza Zongo Pioneer, has stated that her members, like other Ghanaians, are not happy about the EC’s work so they will participate in the demonstration. “About 5000 of our members from Kumasi and other areas in the country are ready to join the rest of the country to demonstrate against the EC in Kumasi on Wednesday,” she told DAILY GUIDEduring an exclusive interview. Dubbed ‘Baamu Yadda’, the demonstration is being organised by the Ashanti Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) in conjunction with other groups such as Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) and Movement for Change (MFC). The demonstration is aimed at putting pressure on the EC, especially Charlotte Osei, the EC boss, to ensure that minors, foreigners and dead people’s names are cleared from the voter register via a validation exercise to make it credible. Adiza insisted that the current voter register is bloated and can therefore not ensure free and fair elections; hence the need for the EC to conduct the validation exercise with immediate effect to clean the register. She observed that with seven months to the elections, the EC, strangely, is dragging its feet in conducting the validation exercise to help make the 2016 national elections free, fair and incident free. Adiza commended the organisers of the ‘Baamu Yadda’ demonstration in Kumasi to pressurize the EC to do the right thing, reiterating that “more than 5000 head porters in Kumasi and beyond are coming for the event to make it grand.” She was of the view that the EC wanted to favour the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to retain political power at all cost, despite the fact that President Mahama had collapsed the economy with his bad policies. Adiza warned that any attempt by the EC to make the NDC win the upcoming national polls on a silver platter might result in chaos and bloodshed, stressing, “So the head porters will put pressure on the EC to behave well.” The President of the Head Porters Association, who is a former member of the NDC, lamented that Ghanaians are going through challenging moments and noted that the NDC will lose the impending polls. Adiza indicated that the head porters had resolved to vote massively against the NDC, noting that her group would support the NPP to win the national polls and restore hope to the citizenry.

Source: Daily Guide