There was confusion at Aketebor registration centre in the Upper Manya Krobo Constituency of the Eastern Region on Thursday after some men, believed to be supporters of the ruling NPP, invaded the centre and attacked applicants for resisting the registration of non-residents at the centre.
The thugs transported in a KIA Truck were accompanying some constituency Executives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP ) who were moving from one registration centre to the other.
They allegedly assaulted three applicants and threatened the electoral officers at the Aketebor Polling station as the unarmed Police officer at the centre looked on helpless .
The scuffle brought the exercise to a halt for some minutes.
The registration officials were visibly not happy over the conduct of the Constituency executives and the thugs allegedly led by the Constituency Chairman Moses Tetteh popularly known as Arizona.
One of the victims, Shadrack Omonyo told Starr News he was slapped three times by the thugs after he questioned why the NPP has brought people they claimed came from Asesewa to register in the village.
The Parliamentary Candidate for the NDC in the Upper Manya Krobo Constituency Bismark Tetteh told Starr News the exercise has been generally smooth but for the thugs deployed by the NPP intimating residents in rural areas.
“That a whole Constituency Chairman of NPP, a party in government will mobilize thugs to come and beat people who are innocently registering. Chairman Arizona has reduced himself to this if it so unfortunate but the warning we want to give them is that we can do worse than they are doing but we have calmed down”
The National Youth Organizer of the NDC George Opare Addo accompanied by the Eastern Regional Youth Organizer Okai Mints who coincidentally arrived at the polling station as part of their monitoring duties in the region condemned the action of the NPP thugs and called on the Police to stop them else the NDC will defend themselves.
“What we have observed is that all the Covid -19 protocols that are supposed to be observed by the Electoral Commission and the people who are here to register are not being observed. We have also seen that the NPP is sending thugs round and attacking people who have legitimately come to polling stations to come and register. We are telling the Ghana Police to be up and doing because we met a police officer here the complaints are that when the thugs came they reported to the police officer he refused to act. In this country called Ghana we are all Ghanaians and nobody is better Ghanaian than the other. Anybody who comes to any polling station to intimidate others, as citizens of this country we have the right to defend ourselves and we are calling on everybody who goes to polling station to be ready to defend himself in case he comes under attack because the Ghana Police has refused to do its job”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
