The Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Eastern Region has charged its agents resist manipulations and fictitious registrations in the ongoing limited registration exercise in the New Juaben South Constituency in particular.
According to the NDC, people are being bussed from their original electoral areas into other electoral areas to register, manipulating the outcomes of elections in the process.
“We will not accept such kind of manipulation because we have been told people are being assigned fictitious residential addresses just to enable them to register in a particular electoral area this is also not allowed,” NDC’s Eastern Regional Secretary Mark Oliver Kevor said when together with the Regional Chairman, John Amankrah [JOWAK] and the Regional Youth Organizer, Okai Mintah toured registration centres in the New Juaben North and South Municipalities on Monday.
The alleged busing has been widely linked to the internal dissension within the New Juaben South Constituency of the ruling New Patriotic Party.
Loyalists of the two political rivals, Dr. Mark Asibe Yeboah, the incumbent NPP Member of Parliament for New Juaben South and his intended contender, Michael Okyere Baafi, Chief Executive Officer of Free Zones Authority are allegedly manipulating new registrants transporting them from various Senior High Schools in the municipality to register at their electoral areas to help secure victory for them in the upcoming district level election.
Starr News has gathered that there are attempts by a faction of Michael Okyere Baafi to sponsor its loyalists to contest Assembly Members loyal to the incumbent MP ostensibly to kick them out of their positions.
This has triggered busing of students from various Senior High Schools by both camps, provided them house numbers, guarantors and other particulars to register in targeted electoral areas. Apart from this other Assembly Members have assigned guarantors to registration centres to guarantee for new applicants from their electoral areas.
These acts disrupted the voter’s registration exercise in most registration centres in the Municipality as opposing agents observing the process attempt to stop the practice. At some registration centres, the disagreement erupted fight halting the exercise for hours.
The Eastern Regional Secretary of NDC says the party will continue to be vigilant to resist such acts even as the exercise draws near to an end.
“We made sure our agents resisted such manipulations and now it has reduced and brought the tension down and we hope that the last days people do not engage in those things again”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
