Ghana: Secretary-General Welcomes Peaceful Polls

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today congratulated the people and Government of Ghana on the peaceful and organized end to their recent presidential and legislative elections.”Ghanaians can and should take pride in this democratic achievement,” Mr. Ban said in a statement issued by his spokesperson. “With their continuing show of commitment to the democratic process, Ghana and its leaders are setting an admirable example.”

Ghana: Voting Begins in Key Area Despite Boycott

Voters in the rural Tain constituency of western central Ghana were trickling into polling stations Friday in an election that could decide who becomes the country’s next president.The African Elections Project (AEP) reported from Accra that the ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP), which lost the recent parliamentary election in the constituency, was boycotting Friday’s vote.Tain is the last of Ghana’s 230 constituencies to vote in a presidential run-off election. After polling in the other 229 constituencies last Sunday, John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had a lead of 23,055 votes over the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.

Ghana: New Presidential Battleground

Little-known Tain Constituency in Brong Ahafo region of Ghana has now become the new battleground in the country’s long drawn presidential election that has already seen one runoff after the first election on December 7, 2008.A third and final decider in the presidential battle between Nana Addo Adankwa Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) holds tomorrow in Tain Constituency.

Ghana: No President-Elect Yet

Accra — Ghana’s test as a model democracy in coup-wracked West Africa will be stretched over a few more days as election officials investigate fraud allegations and conduct a missed poll in one district.Results from Ghana’s 28 December presidential run-off were expected on 30 December but the head of the electoral commission said the outcome will be delayed for audits of disputed polls and the fresh 2 January vote.Thousands of Ghanaians camped out overnight at the electoral commission headquarters in the capital Accra the eve of the expected announcement. Armed soldiers and police were out in force to control the crowds.

Ghana: After Elections Comes Waiting

Thousand of NDC supporters spent the night at the offices of the Electoral Commission (EC) headquarters in Accra. The crowd has made their intentions clear – that they are going to lay siege at the commission office until the final results are released.In order to maintain law and order at the EC’s office, a large group of army and police officers have condoned off the offices of the Electoral Commission and they have fired tear gas at certain times in the night to control the crowds. The situation is very fluid but calm. In a related development the NDC’s presidential candidate Atta Mills has urged his supporters to remain calm and wait for the Electoral Commission to declare the final results although he has indicated that his party has won the elections.

Ghana: Presidential Election Too Close to Call

With more than half the results counted in the second round of Ghana’s presidential election, the two candidates are running neck-and-neck.Provisional results released by the African Elections Project (AEP) in Accra show that with 162 of 230 constituencies reporting, the candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, had 3,216,096 votes, or 49.26 percent of the total, and John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of former ruler Jerry Rawlings had 3,313,337 votes, or 50.74 percent.

Ghana: NDC Hold Big Rally While NPP Takes Regional Rallies Route

Accra — Official campaigning for the second run of Ghana’s 2008 presidential elections ends midnight today – 26 December 2008, with the two political parties in the race, the New Patriotic Party ( NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) undertaking final campaign rallies.While the NDC is holding a big rally in the central region of Ghana, the region the party considers to be crucial to if they are going to win the December 28 elections, the ruling NPP is holding regional and mini rallies across the length and breath of the country in light of their second round strategy of “personal touch” . The party believes big rallies are not effective in carrying their message to prospective voters since it lacks one on one interaction.

Ghana: Presidential Run-Off Special Voting Underway

Accra — Officials of the Electoral Commission, members of the security forces, media practitioners and other key essential staff undertaking electoral duties on December 28 are voting today in special voting.The special voting is expected to start from 7.00am and ends at 7.00pm prompt.According to EC regulations, the ballot boxes from the special voting are going to be sealed and counted at the collation centers after the general voting on December 28.

Africa: No More Excuses on Gender Violence

As the world marks the twenty-seventh International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, United Nations figures indicate that in the course of her lifetime, one in every three women is beaten, coerced into sex or abused, by a relative or acquaintance.In Africa , concerns continue to be raised over poor legislation and enforcement to protect women and girls from harm.At the African Development Forum, held in Addis from Nov. 19-21, it emerged that many women do not report cases of violence, particularly those involving intimate partners, for fear of reprisal, which may include economic deprivation, physical abuse, or losing custody of their children.”There is a deep culture of silence where women do not tell about their husbands or partners beating them; they fear that they may stop being provided for, particularly if the man is the bread winner,” says Auxillia Ponga, a gender advisor with the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Malaria vaccine for Africa

A malaria vaccine trial on children in Africa starts next month researchers have said. The medical trial will take place on about 16,000 children and has come about as the researchers try to create the world’s first malaria vaccine. Malaria kills more than one million children yearly in Africa.The vaccine trials are expected to take place in such countries as Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.Malaria is one of the diseases which is killing more people especially children in Africa and is caused by parasites and spread by mosquitoes.The British drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC is teaming with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, which is an anti-malaria charity funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, clinics and research centres in Africa to develop a malaria vaccine, according to the NewsDay report.